
Class. 
Book. 



BEQUEST OF 
ALBERT ADSJT CLEMONS 
(Not available for exchange) 




I. THE OLD CROSS AT CI3IIKZ 



13 



THE ROMANCE OF NICE 



THE ROMANCE 
OF NICE 



BY 

JOHN DOUGLAS ERRINGTON LOVELAND 



" Cette bourgade du soleil et des fleurs." 

Thkodoue de Banviixe 

" Vertumne, Pomone et Zephyre, 
Avec Flore y regnent toujours ; 
C'est I'Asyle de leurs amours, 
Et le trone de leur empire."— XVIIIth Centuhy 



NEW YORK 
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

1912 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



Bequest 

Albert Adsit demons 

Aug. 24, 1938 

(Not available for exchanga) 



Printed in Great Britain by 
William Brendon and Son, Ltd. , Plymouth 



J a 



PREFACE 

THE amount of literature which has been 
written about the Riviera is very large, 
and it may well seem that there is no adequate 
necessity for increasing it. But that is a view to 
which I am unable to subscribe, and I will 
briefly give my reasons. The twentieth century 
is a hurrying age, and people require literary fare 
to be set before them without the trouble of going 
to look for it. The many notable works on the 
Riviera which have appeared from time to time 
written in English, French, and Italian, to say 
nothing of the classical authors, are most of 
them unattainable to the general reading public. 
Many are long out of print, many are too detailed 
and technical, and many again are out of date 
and inaccurate. 

For these reasons I have thought it worth 
while to add one more to the long list of books 
dealing with Nice and its country-side ; I have 
gleaned very freely from all the sources to which 



vi PREFACE 

I have alluded, preferring to quote the authors 
themselves, rather than to attempt to para- 
phrase their writings ; and it has been my aim 
to endeavour to present the story of this old 
city and its fair country in such a form as may 
interest the reader, rather than to give a fully 
detailed account of those events which are 
to be found in the history of all towns whose 
origin goes back into the far past. 

Baring-Gould, in his " Book of the Riviera," 
says he has given but a meagre sketch of the 
history of Nice, for the reader would have no 
patience with all the petty troubles — great to 
those that endured them — which afflicted Nice 
and its vicinity through many centuries. Au- 
gustus J. C. Hare, for all his voluminous dis- 
cursiveness on the Cities of Italy, could never 
be induced to write even a dozen lines on the 
story of Nice; he dismisses the town in his 
" Southern France " — if my memory serves me — 
as a hot, dusty, windy place, which is not worth 
more than the most cursory investigation. 

Undeterred by the opinion of these two great 
writers, I have ventured to try and show that 
there is much that is interesting not alone in the 
history of the country, but also in its legends 



PREFACE vii 

and folk-lore, its people, small as well as great, 
its wonderful flora, and in that charm which per- 
vades it that so speedily seizes on the stranger 
within its gates. In a word, I would present 
the " Romance of Nice " to all those who, for lack 
of observation or want of opportunity, have 
hitherto failed to grasp it. It is a story full of 
colour and life, set in a brilliant framework by 
the greatest of all scene-painters, Nature herself ; 
and those who steep themselves in the Mediter- 
ranean sunshine during the long pleasant months 
of winter, may find interest in the tale of their 
temporary home, as it is unfolded to them 
from the dim past to the clear-cut present. If 
this prove to be the case, the object with which 
this book has been written will be more than 

achieved. 

J. D. E. L. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

Nice and the poets— The land of flowers— The Stone Man of 
the Riviera — The legend of Adam and Eve — The passing of 
Heracles — Phoenician settlements — The foundation of Nice — 
The story of Glyptis— The coming of the Romans, and the 
rise of Cimiez . . • . pages 1-19 



CHAPTER II 

The Roman dominion — The visits of the Empress Poppaea and 
of the Empress Julia Cornelia Salonina — The introduction of 
Christianity — The martyrdom of Saint Pons — A legend of the 
amphitheatre of Cimiez — The contest between the Emperors 
Vitellius and Otho — The Emperor Pertinax — The develop- 
ment of the province — The dancing boy of Antibes . 20-43 



CHAPTER III 

The coming of the Lombards — The sack of Cimiez and the 
destruction of Nice — The legend of Saint Hospice — The 
passing of the Franks — The plague — The Saracen incursions 
— Gradual evolution of the County of Provence — The 
Saracens' power broken — Religious fervour of the times — 
The ejectment of the Knights Templar by Charles of Anjou 
— Guelphs and Ghibellines — The tale of Queen Joanna — First 
appearance of the House of Savoy — The county raised to a 
dukedom — Amadeus VIII elected Pope as Felix V . 44-71 



x CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV 

The Congress of Nice — Pope Paul III, Francis I, and Charles V 
— Mediaeval history — Sieges of Nice — The Chateau and its 
destruction by the Duke of Berwick — Nice under the Terror 
— Napoleon's visits — Pope Pius VII and the Queen of Etruria 
— Napoleon and the Prince of Monaco — Nice finally becomes 
French ..... pages 72-91 



CHAPTER V 

Matrimonial alliances of the House of Savoy — Some letters of a 
Queen of Spain — The worthies of Nice — Catherine Segurane 
— The painter, Vanloo — The astronomer, Cassini . 92-113 



CHAPTER VI 

Massena, " l'Enfant cheri de la Victoire " — Paganini, his death 
and strange obsequies — The wanderings of his coffin, and its 
final interment — Giuseppe Garibaldi — La Bella Rosina — 
Alexandre Dumas — Queen Victoria at Cimiez — Other Royal 
guests — The Maharajah Duleep Singh — Father Gapon . 114-137 



CHAPTER VII 

Religious piety in former times — The patrons of the city — Monu- 
ments and palaces — The town gates — The Pont Vieux — The 
port — The terraces — The Hotel de la Prefecture — The Tour 
Bellanda — The Mint — Palais Lascaris — Palais Marie Christine 
— The churches of Nice — The Cathedral of Saint Reparate — 
The monasteries of Cimiez, Saint Pons, and Saint Barthelemy 
—Old inns ..... 138-163 



CHAPTER VIII 

The history of Nice and its worthies written in the names of its 
streets, squares, and public places — The Chateau de Mont- 
boron — The English and Russian churches . . 164-180 



CONTENTS xi 



CHAPTER IX 

Legends of the country-side — The caterpillars of Contes — The 
Devil's Bridge at Eze — The capture of the Evil One by the 
Man of Contes . . . pages 181-205 



CHAPTER X 

Old customs in Nice — Lou Presepi — The Noue of the Madeleine 
— The Fete of the Rogations — The confraternities — "La 
Gloria'' — The Festins of Lent — The Cougourdons — Summer 
Festins — Folk-lore — W olf superstitions — Witch villages — Bad 
luck in planting cypresses — Bee customs — The mistral — 
Old weights and measures . . . 206-226 



CHAPTER XI 

The vegetation of the Riviera — Olives, palms, oranges, fruit 
trees and gardens — The carouba and the eucalyptus — The 
garden of Saint Barthelemy— The Grottos of Saint Andre and 
of Falicon— Bird life— The green lizard . . 227-248 



CHAPTER XII 

The industries of the Riviera — Wine — Scent — Dried fruits — 
The extinct tunny fishery — Pottery — The spread of gambling 



249-261 



CHAPTER XIII 

The rivers of Nice — Gi-eat floods and storms in history — Cold 
years and earthquakes — Epidemics — The beginnings of Nice 
as a health resort — Difficulties of access — Gradual develop- 
ment—The annexation and the making of the railway — The 
position of Nice to-day .... 262-280 



xii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XIV 

The neighbourhood of Nice on the east of the Var — Mont Alban 
and its siege — The port of Villefranche — Duke Emmanuel 
Philibert's stud at Cap Ferrat — The Duchess and the Corsair 
— The Saracen tower — Beaulieu and Olivula — The worship of 
IsiSj and the vicissitudes of Eze — Contes — Chateauneuf, the 
Deserted Village— Luceram and Aspremont, their history — 
Mont Chauve — Pei'ra Cava and the Hinterland . pages 281-303 



CHAPTER XV 

The country west of the Var — The old frontier town of Saint 
Laurent-du-Var — The Castle of Cagnes — The Bishop's reproof 
to his flock — Francis I at the Chateau of Villeneuve-Louhet 
— The old burgh of Saint Paul — The battle between the 
armies of Vitellius and Otho at La Brague — Biot repeopled 
by Genoese — Curious custom at Vallauris — Antibes^ its vener- 
able antiquity — Roman buildings — The Terpon Stone — Fre- 
quent sieges — Honoured by Louis XVIII — Bonaparte under 
arrest — Madame Letitia's sojourn — Demolition of the ramparts 
— Vence — Roman tombs — Development of Christianity there 
— Its Bishops — The Reformation — Huguenot persecutions — 
Village of Saint Jeannet — Gourdon — The country folk . 304-326 



CHAPTER XVI 

The Nice carnival — Its derivation and origin — Its history and its 

development — Its present splendour , . . 327-343 

List op Works Consulted . . ... 345 

Acknowledgment . . ... 347 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

I. The Old Cross at Cimiez . . . Frontispiece 

TO FACE PAGE 

II. Ruins of the Roman Amphitheatre at Cimiez . 24 

III. Mediaeval Nice . . . . . .78 

IV. Staircase of the Palais Lascaris . . . 148 
V. La Croix de Marbre . . . . .150 

VI. The Monastery Church at Cimiez . . .156 

VII. Fountain of The Tritons in the Public Garden . 172 

VIII. The Old Bridge over the Var . . . 262 

IX. The Old Bridge over the Var . . . 268 

X. Alpine Scenery at Peira-cava .... 302 



THE ROMANCE OF NICE 



CHAPTER I 

Nice and the poets — The land of flowers — The Stone Man of the 
Riviera — The legend of Adam and Eve — The passing- of Heracles 
— Phoenician settlements — The foundation of Nice — The story of 
Glyptis — The coming of the Romans, and the rise of Cimiez. 

THE northern coast of the blue Mediter- 
ranean lives, and has lived in the forefront 
of the world since European history began. 
Rich in time-honoured cities, and in golden 
legends of the past, the ages have wrapped it so 
closely in their embrace that to-day its exist- 
ence is accepted without much thought as to 
what lies beyond that which is actually pre- 
sented to the eye. 

But the story of Nice and its country-side 
goes far back into the distant past, and even 
then that story springs from legend upon legend. 

Writers in all times and in all countries have 
celebrated the beauties of the Riviera and the 
splendour of Nice. Set like a pearl on the rim 
of the azure semicircle of the Bay of Angels, 
with the snow-capped mountains — those altars 



2 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of Nature on which the sun offers his sacrifice 
at dawn and sunset — rising in the background, 
its situation is incomparable. Well was Nice 
named in the chaplet of the cities of Italy, where 
each bore its own proud designation, Nizza la 
Bella. How fittingly were these titles bestowed 
— Rome, the Eternal City ; Genoa, the Proud ; 
Milan, the Great ; Lucca, the Industrious ; 
August Perugia, Iron Pistoia, and many another ; 
but Nice it was which shared with Florence — 
two cities of Flowers — the appellation Beau- 
teous. 

Poets have woven their fancies about Nice 
with no sparing hand ; here is what Heinrich 
Heine wrote : " From the sun which blazes in 
the firmament will I snatch the glowing and 
glittering gold to make a diadem for thine 
anointed brow. From the azure gossamer which 
floats from the arch of the sky, where flash the 
diamonds of night, will I tear a splendid frag- 
ment, and of it will I fashion thee a court mantle 
for thy regal shoulders." Theodore de Banville 
maintains that towns have their destinies written, 
and says that the lot of Nice is to reign unques- 
tioned over all those daughter cities of the 
Mediterranean, lapped by limpid waves, and 
smothered in roses. There is an irresistible 
seduction in this Mediterranean, which passes 



THE LAND OF FLOWERS 3 

from azure and lapis-lazuli in the foreground, 
to the deeper richness of blue on the horizon, 
a delicious blue, a thousand times more so than 
that of the sky itself. In its liquid firmament 
bathe every night the cold flock of stars, for 
its waters are enchanted. But the soft Tyr- 
rhenian Sea recalls its history no more. It is 
the Lake of Oblivion set at the gate of Paradise, 
and on its shores December, clad in verdure 
and flowers, usurps the place of spring. Roses 
everywhere, the day when Nice disappears 
from the page of history, it will surely be buried 
beneath a thicket of roses. So says the poet. 

But this coast was not always a paradise of 
flowers. In the dim ages when Prehistoric Man 
fought his hard struggle for existence, it was a 
very different place from the sun-kissed, flower- 
bearing land it is to-day. Yet the interest of 
the Riviera begins with the Stone Age, for the 
remains of men and women of that period have 
been found at more than one spot. The question 
at once arises, what manner of man was he 
of the Stone Age ? Dr. Allen Sturge, a well- 
known living authority on the subject, tells us 
that he differed in no great measure from the 
man of the present day, although he was almost 
certainly of greater stature. He was no tillei 
of the soil, but a hunter and a fisherman, and 



4 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

the animals which he hunted (whose remains 
have been found here in close proximity to his) 
were the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, a 
great extinct lion, a huge extinct bear, and the 
extinct so-called " Irish " elk, with its magnifi- 
cent spreading antlers, with many other forms 
of life now unknown ; domestic animals did 
not exist in the Stone Age. This primitive 
ancestor of ours lived in caves, or sheltered under 
overhanging rocks, and though he made no 
pottery, he carved horn and bone — sometimes 
even stone — to a high degree of finish. He 
had a rudimentary knowledge of drawing, and 
reproduced the outlines of the animals he was 
accustomed to see in everyday life. This is 
proved by the representation of a mammoth 
scratched on a piece of one of its own tusks, 
which may be seen in the Museum of the Jardin 
des Plantes, in Paris. 

Some of the skeletons discovered on the Riviera 
are of great size. Out of ten which have been 
found of late years, the shortest man could not 
have been less than six feet four, while the 
tallest measures not less than seven feet. The 
women would seem to have been about six feet 
in height. But this Man of the Stone Age, 
besides being something of an artist, gave evi- 
dences of care for the adornment of his person, 



STONE MAN OF THE RIVIERA 5 

which places him higher than the mere hunter 
who chased wild animals to provide his daily 
food. Several skeletons which have been found 
were ornamented with what had been strings of 
shells pierced with holes, which had evidently 
been used as necklaces, bracelets, and even 
coronets. Other necklaces have been found made 
of deer's teeth, also pierced for stringing together. 

The age of this first known inhabitant of the 
Riviera has caused much discussion, but it 
would appear to be an accepted view that he 
lived in the later period of the old Stone Age, 
an epoch impossible to date, but which probably 
runs into hundreds — rather than tens of thou- 
sands of years ago. 

But although it is in comparatively recent 
years that we have acquired this knowledge 
of the Stone Man who once dwelt here, yet a 
pretty legend has for centuries been current 
along the coast in connection with Adam and 
Eve. The Riviera is fertile in legends, and 
this is not the least picturesque of them. There 
is no need to go into any comparative tables of 
dates ; let us accept the story that Adam and 
Eve were our first parents, and dismiss the 
older Stone Man to the dim, smoke-hung recesses 
of his cave on the sea-shore. 

When the Almighty in His wrath had decreed 



6 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

that Adam and Eve should be expelled from the 
earthly Paradise, Adam, in his misery, thought 
only of the moment, and cursed the curiosity 
of his partner. Eve, more clear-sighted, took 
heed for the future, and, as the Archangel 
turned his back upon the guilty pair, to unlock 
the gate which led into the outer darkness 
of the world, ere leaving Paradise she furtively 
snatched a fine fruit from a lemon tree which 
grew beside the door. 

Adam and Eve passed into exile, and the 
Archangel clanged the gate behind them, which 
shut them off for ever from the delights of 
Paradise. The moment they were alone Adam 
took his spouse to task. " Wretched woman," 
said he, " you have been talking to the serpent 
again." " No, no," replied Eve, "it is only a 
souvenir of Paradise." " If the Creator sees 
you there will be more trouble." " But He 
won't see me," retorted the first woman, quickly 
hiding the product of her theft under the some- 
what exiguous proportions of the fig leaf which 
formed her single garment. 

They trudged along as the seasons changed, 
now in blazing summer, and anon in the snows 
of mid- winter; they crossed rivers, and pene- 
trated through vast forests, toiling painfully 
over mountains, and wandering through deserts 



LEGEND OF ADAM AND EVE 7 

and plains, until one day they found themselves 
in a country where the hill-side sloped gently 
towards the sea, whose blue waves sang softly 
under the everlasting sapphire of the sky. 
" This is the spot," cried Eve, throwing on the 
ground the lemon she had so long preserved. 
" Increase and multiply, O golden fruit, in this 
garden which is worthy of thy beauty." Thus 
were born the lemon trees on the Riviera, and 
thus did our first parents, driven out from the 
earthly Paradise for the sake of a common apple, 
find another, thanks to a lemon of gold. 

But if the pride of prior antiquity be conceded 
to the lemon, yet the orange can claim an origin 
equally remarkable, and equally glorious. Still 
in the realms of legend, but at an epoch when 
legend was fast crystallizing into history, came 
the demi-god Heracles, conquering and swagger- 
ing along the Riviera, as he marched from con- 
quest to conquest, till he set up the Pillars 
on the shores of the Atlantic where the Straits of 
Gibraltar join it to the Mediterranean. Heracles 
is presented to us by some of the old authors 
as a sort of primeval Napoleon, to whose genius 
many unexplainable works are attributed. Dio- 
dorus of Sicily precises so far as to tell us that 
he made a road along the Maritime Alps fit 
for the passage of armies and chariots. 



8 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

The demi-god is said to have founded the 
town of Heracles Monaco, and was reposing after 
this task at Villefranche, where he was directing 
the harbour works, when Tanaris, the local 
chief of the Ligurians, who then inhabited the 
coast, sent a deputation to beg him to rid the 
land of the monsters which were decimating the 
flocks all over the country-side, offering a present 
of five hundred oxen for the due accomplishment 
of the task. 

Heracles accepted, and straightway attacked 
the terrible winged serpent Octopis, in the 
gorges of Aspremont, where this legendary 
reptile had his lair. The hero quickly strangled 
it with his powerful hands, and used its body 
as a scourge, which served to whip to atoms 
the other monsters with which the whole 
neighbourhood was infested. Five hundred 
superb oxen were handed over with the grateful 
thanks of the tribesmen, but when Heracles 
started to drive them, he found it impossible 
to get them over Mount Boron. It was in the 
early spring-time, and when the innumerable 
cows scented the departure of the bulls, they 
bellowed to such an extent that the latter, 
breaking all control, smashed up the barriers 
and returned to their mates. 

The vengeance of the demi-god is worthy of 



THE PASSING OF HERACLES 9 

the times and of the legend, for it is said to 
have been wrought on five hundred virgins of 
the tribe on the following night ! But the 
daughter of Tanaris succeeded in making the 
hero drunk, and while he was sleeping off the 
effects of his debauch, she stole his club. Flying 
to rouse her people, she led them to the attack 
of the camp, but Heracles awoke, and called 
the gods to his aid, by which means he obtained 
an easy victory. In the melee, however, the 
Apples of the Hesperides, which were packed 
up in his baggage, were spilt on the soil, where 
they have ever since flourished. 

These legends of the passage of Heracles all 
along the coast refer, as is now well recognized, 
to the Phoenician nation personified and deified 
in him. Wherever we come across the name of 
Heracles or Melkarth, we have but to substitute 
for it that of the Tyrian people, of whom the con- 
quering and civilizing hero was only the deified 
symbol and representative. As Lentheric points 
out, the tales of all the mythical historians with 
reference to the journeys and exploits of the 
demi-god, freed from all the fictions and em- 
bellishments with which the poetical imagination 
of the Greeks has surrounded them, assume 
the importance of geographical and historical 
documents. All the legends of Heracles, in- 



10 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

terpreted by sound sense and historical criticism, 
turn out to be nothing else than the history of 
the progress and the conquests of the original 
Tyrian people, and Heraclean towns are so many 
Ligurian towns transformed and colonized by 
the Phoenicians. Aristotle distinctly states that 
an ancient route led formerly from Italy to Gaul 
and Spain, passing successively, by way of the 
Maritime Alps, through the country of the 
Celto-Ligurians, then through that of the Iberians, 
and by way of the last spurs of the Pyrenees, 
on to the sea-coast. This road, which was not 
only a strategic route, but was also used for 
commercial purposes, was the great Heraclean 
Way. Portions of it are still found in many 
parts of Provence, and this was the road made 
eight or ten centuries before the Christian Era, if 
not by Heracles the demi-god, at any rate by — 
or for — the Tyrian merchants. The substratum 
of this primitive road was afterwards made use 
of for laying down the Domitian and Aurelian 
Ways, and hence it has, to a great extent, 
disappeared under the repairs and rectifications 
of the Romans. But the Phoenicians had been 
the first to mark out the route ; and the frag- 
ments of it which are found at various places 
inland, between the two Ligurian oppida of 
Vence and Cimiez, furnish indisputable evidence 



PHOENICIAN SETTLEMENTS 11 

that the Phoenician occupation was not con- 
fined to a mere coasting trade from port to port, 
but that it had struck its root deep into the 
heart of the country, and by works of public 
utility had brought thither the first elements of 
civilization and progress. 

The Riviera henceforth enters into the direct 
historical period, although there is — as is natural 
— considerable diversity of opinion as to actual 
dates. What immediately concerns us here is 
the approximate era of the foundation of Nice. 
From the researches made by Monsieur J. Brun 
and Monsieur Honore Sappia, it can confidently 
be asserted that Nice is contemporary with 
Marseilles, and must have been built about six 
centuries before the birth of Christ, by the 
Phocaeans of Ionia, whose principal towns on 
the shores of the Mediterranean had been taken 
and burnt by the Persians. The testimony of 
Herodotus, of Diodorus of Sicily, of Ammianus 
Marcellinus, and certain other historians of 
great antiquity, should carry more weight than 
that of some writers who declare that Nice was 
founded some three hundred years after Mar- 
seilles, and three hundred years before the 
Christian Era. 

There is no doubt that Nice is a Greek town ; 
its name proves it at once. It was to com- 



12 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

memorate the victory gained by the Phocseans 
over the Carthaginians and the Tyrrhenians in 
the vicinity of the Isle of Cyrnos (Corsica), 
that the Phocseans decided to build a town 
which they called Nike (Victory). In the 
beginning the city was built on the sea-shore 
between the castle rock and the mouth of the 
Paillon, but the attacks of the Saleyan and 
Ligurian tribes who lived in the mountains 
round forced the inhabitants of the new town 
to move to the top of the rock, where they could 
more easily defend themselves. 

According to Strabo, when the settlers who 
had founded Marseilles had become sufficiently 
strong, they penetrated into the adjacent country 
and even pushed on as far as the banks of the 
Var. Delighted with the picturesque country 
and luxuriant soil which bordered its eastern 
banks, they resolved on its immediate subjuga- 
tion, and accordingly built the town of Nice, as 
a barrier to resist the opposition of the Ligurians, 
in an exceedingly strong position. The founda- 
tion of the town served at the same time as a 
monument of the signal victory which they 
had gained over the barbarians. 

Leander Albertus attributes the origin of Nice 
to Nicius Laertes, Duke of Etruria, and instead 
of the word Nicsea, substituted Nicia : but 



THE FOUNDATION OF NICE 13 

Cluverius, with more probability, has restored 
to the people of Marseilles the credit of the 
foundation of the town, and fortifies his opinion 
with the authorities of Pliny, Ptolemy, and 
many other geographers. Those who have 
attempted to show that Nice was built on the 
ruins of Cimiez have to combat the weighty 
testimony of Sigonius, who assures us that 
(as will afterwards be proved) this city existed 
until the invasion of Gaul by the Lombards, 
and that Nice was reputed the second consider- 
able town of Italy in the days of Ptolemy. It 
is easy to verify the opinions of this last author 
by examining his book of geography, where Nice 
is placed immediately after Rome, and before 
Tarracina, Naples, etc., but we may fairly con- 
jecture that in making this statement he has 
taken Nice and Cimiez as practically one town, 
as they are to-day. 

" Nicaea, Nicea, Nica, Graecis dicitur vUn 
Ptolemaeo, Straboni, Plineo, Catoni, Sempronio, 
Pomponio Melae, necnon Livii Stephanique 
breviatoribus." Cluverius remarks, " Nomen 
haud dubie sortita est Nicaea a re eventu, id est 
a vincendo, scilicet cum Massilienses, devictis 
ejectisque Liguribus ea littora obtinuissent." 
Other authors also confirm the preceding quota- 
tions, and this explanation seems the most 



14 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

appropriate and correct, as the name was be- 
stowed in evident allusion to the triumph of 
the Greeks over the barbarians. 

The chief local historians admit this theory, 
but do not agree exactly as to dates. Gioffredo 
states that Nice was built three hundred and 
twenty years before Christ, and two hundred 
and sixty years after the foundation of Mar- 
seilles, or at least — as he says — after the restora- 
tion of that city. Durante says that the Asiatic 
Phocseans built Marseilles six hundred years 
before the Christian Era, but, according to 
most chronologists, the date of this event is 
supposed to have been five hundred and thirty- 
nine B.C. Here, then, would be an error of 
sixty-one years in Durante's statement, and of 
forty-one years in Gioffredo's, but these writers 
are neither of them famous for accuracy. 

However that be, it is on record that, at the 
beginning of the first Punic War, Nice, which 
was a colony of Marseilles, repelled the attacks 
of the Carthaginians, and it was thanks to the 
devotion of the inhabitants of Nice that Mar- 
seilles was enabled to make an advantageous 
alliance with Rome, which Power, having ex- 
pelled the Carthaginians from Sicily, became the 
undisputed mistress of the Mediterranean. 

The first centuries of the history of Nice are 



THE STORY OF GLYPTIS 15 

wrapped in obscurity, beyond the fact first 
recorded, but it is known that the town followed 
the fortunes of the Mother City, and that when 
this part of Gaul fell under the sway of the 
Romans, Nice, as well as Marseilles, was per- 
mitted to govern itself by its own laws, and to 
preserve the privilege of electing its own magis- 
trates. 

The legend of the primal cause which led to its 
first settlement has been picturesquely related 
by Miss Dempster, in her valuable book on the 
Maritime Alps. Nann, the King of the Sego- 
briges, held high festival, and all his chieftains 
were gathered round the board. The occasion 
was an auspicious one, for the banquet was 
held in honour of the betrothal of the fair 
Glyptis, the King's only daughter. The warriors 
filled their bowls, and pledged the maiden who 
entered the hall white-robed, with hair falling 
to her knees. The King would not coerce his 
daughter, and promised that she should wed him 
to whom she gave the cup of wine now brimming 
in her hands. Around her were all her father's 
trusted friends, each man of whom, as he praised 
her loveliness, hoping that the choice might fall 
on him. But the victory is not always to the 
strong ; Glyptis had known these rude soldiers, 
with their thick beards and gruff voices, and 



16 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

drinking exploits, since her childhood. As her 
eye wandered over the hall, it fell upon a strange 
face far down at the other end near the door. 
That must be the Phocaean youth of whom 
King Nann had spoken, and whom he had bidden 
to his board so that young Portis, when he 
returned to the Greek Isles, might tell his com- 
rades how men feasted in the halls of a king, 
all of whose warriors were valiant, and whose only 
daughter was beautiful. Glyptis gazed at him, 
and hesitated ; she knew that he came from 
the lands of the sunshine, that his speech was 
softer than that of the nobles round her, and 
that he himself looked like, in beauty, one of 
the gods whom his people worshipped. The 
Princess hesitated but a moment, then, gliding 
through the rows of disappointed Gauls, she 
placed the troth-cup in the willing hands of the 
astonished Portis. The marriage was celebrated 
forthwith, and proved a very happy one. Portis 
and Glyptis (or Eumenus and Gyptis, as some 
call them) founded in the dominion of Mar- 
seilles a city of which Chateaubriand could say 
that she was Athens' youngest rival. Nice and 
Antibes were the children of this parent colony, 
but were naturally less well fitted to resist the 
fierce native tribes which harassed them almost 
unceasingly. It was the Greeks of Antibes who 



THE COMING OF THE ROMANS 17 

first summoned the Roman Legions to their 
assistance in 237 B.C., and the district was so 
obviously tempting to the Romans that this 
first expedition was followed by others, and 
the Latin element thus introduced into the 
Maritime Alps soon took root, and after no 
long period became the dominant one. 

But, for a time, the two civilizations flourished 
side by side. When the bold descendants of 
Portis and Glyptis had definitely conquered 
and dispossessed the uncouth Ligurian shepherds, 
who were the first masters of the land, they 
drove these hairy mountaineers to the recesses 
of the deep gorges, of the mysterious caves, 
and of the sombre forests still soaked with the 
blood of the victims offered by the Druids to 
appease the terrible god Teutates. The genius 
of the Greek colonists, however, did not stop 
at the cultivation of the soil, and the planting of 
vineyards and fig trees. Remembering that 
they were exiles from the country which was 
the cradle of science and the arts, they tried to 
create a new Greece in Provence. So, at the 
mouth of the Paillon (Paulon in Greek) they 
built their city. The Celtic hovels were swept 
away to make sites for temples with majestic 
Corinthian facades, houses adorned with statuary 
recalling those of Athens sprang up hard by, 



18 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

and strong fortifications surrounded them against 
the attacks of the barbarians. 

The Prsefects of Cimiez watched the rise of 
the Greek city with friendly feelings, and the 
alliance between Marseilles and Rome bore its 
fruit here in offensive and defensive operations. 
This lasted till the day when the Mediterranean 
coast was declared a Roman province, which 
occurred in the reign of Augustus. Cimiez, the 
more populous and flourishing town, was made 
the capital of the Maritime Alps, and Nice became 
its port, just as the Pirseus was that of Athens, 
and Ostia that of Rome. From that day the 
importance of the city on the hill increased in 
proportion as that of the town on the sea-shore 
diminished. A great blow to Nice was the 
removal to Frejus of the arsenal, by the Emperor 
Augustus, a step which took away much of its 
importance from the town, and was, naturally, 
the means of decreasing its population. But 
that it was still a considerable place is evidenced 
by an inscription which has been found at the 
Chateau, bearing no date, but which is evidently 
posterior to the reign of Augustus. Gioffredo 
mentions this in his " Nicsea Ci vitas " (1638). 
The stone was dedicated by his friends to Caius 
Memmius Macrinus, who held, among other offices, 
those of Episcopos and Agonoiheta, that is to 



THE COMING OF THE ROMANS 19 

say, chief of the police and steward of the public 
games of the people of Nice, a proof that the 
town was still of sufficient importance to have 
its public fetes. But, to all intents and purposes, 
the brief splendour which marked the Greek 
city of Nice was at an end, and the interest of 
the story shifts to the capital on the hill which, 
for nearly four centuries, was the favourite 
dwelling-place of those Roman patricians whose 
sole aim in life was to enjoy it, and who laid 
the wealth of the whole then known world 
under contribution to minister to their pleasures. 



CHAPTER II 

The Roman dominion — The visits of the Empress Poppsea and of 
the Empress Julia Cornelia Salonina — The introduction of Chris- 
tianity — The martyrdom of Saint Pons — A legend of the amphi- 
theatre of Cimiez — The contest between the Emperors Vitellius 
and Otho — The Emperor Pertinax — The development of the pro- 
vince — The dancing boy of Antibes. 

CIMIEZ is one of those sites which seem to 
have been inhabited since the earliest times, 
and though history has not been diffuse in the 
knowledge which it has transmitted to the 
present generation, yet legend and tradition 
supply its earlier story. By some its origin is 
attributed to Ligurus, son of Phaeton, who went 
to Greece from Egypt, and finally came to this 
coast, where he is said to have founded the city 
of Cimiez. Whatever be the truth of this 
suggestion, it is evident that the Roman town 
took the place of an older one, proof of which 
is shown by the Cyclopean walls, parts of which 
are still extant, close to the plateau on the east 
side of the Roman ruins. Other authors would 
assign to it a Trojan origin. Gioffredo, in his 
" Storia delle Alpi Marittime " (1889), says, 
" Crediderim nomen Cemenelion fuisse ejus urbis 



THE ROMAN DOMINION 21 

conditoribus ; Cemenilion id est inter Montes 
Cemenos Ilion " ("In my opinion, the name 
bestowed on that city by its founders is derived 
from Cemen-ilion, Ilion among the Cemenean 
Mountains "). He bases his belief on the fact 
that at different times a great quantity of 
vases, statues, bas-reliefs, medals, and bronze 
coins have been found here, on many of which 
are to be seen the Genius of Troy, the figure of 
iEneas carrying his father Anchises on his back, 
and holding the Palladium in his right hand, 
while he leads his son lulus with his left, with 
the inscription IAION (Ilion) underneath. The 
ancient name of the city is spelt in many ways ; 
it is usually written Cemenelum, which is the 
denomination used indifferently with Cemelum 
by Antoninus. Ptolemy calls it Cemeneleon ; 
Pliny alters the penultimate syllable and writes 
it Cemenelio ; Cluverius sometimes names it 
Cemelio, and sometimes Gemelio. Ptolemy and 
Pliny both speak of it as the chief town of the 
Vediantii, though this does not prove that the 
people of this tribe were the original founders of 
the city, for the Vediantii came from Greece, 
like the Phocseans, and obtained a concession 
of that part of the Cemenean Mountains (in the 
Maritime Alps), which stretched from Monaco 
to the Var. The mild temperature, the fertility 



22 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of the soil, and the proximity of the sea, all 
materially assisted them, both in increase of 
population and in the development of the 
industrial resources of the country. 

History proper commences with the erection 
of the Maritime Alps into a Roman province, by 
Augustus, who included therein all the tribes 
between Genoa and Embrun, fixing the capital at 
Cimiez. To attach the population, which was 
known to be of a restless and unsettled character, 
more firmly to the Roman Empire, it was pru- 
dently resolved to accord the jus latium to the 
inhabitants of the new province. From this 
moment the old capital of the Vediantii increased 
both in prosperity and in population ; and its 
extent, as well as the new and splendid edifices 
which were erected, placed it among the most 
important of the cities of Gaul. Under the 
governorship of a Roman Praefect, with a 
permanent legion to guard its walls, by the 
advantages of its position and its climate, it 
speedily gained a great reputation for salubrity, 
and consequently attracted a crowd of patrician 
families, who came to settle there ; or, at all 
events, who regularly travelled thither to escape 
the rigours of a winter in Rome. 

The Government was on the strict lines of 
Roman precedent ; at its head was a Praefect — 



THE ROMAN DOMINION 23 

belonging to the Equestrian Order — who was 
responsible for the administration of justice ; 
Quaestors, who collected the taxes ; a Pontifex 
Maximus to look after religious affairs ; and all 
the usual subordinate officials of a Roman 
administration. There were three classes of 
citizens, the Senators, and the members of the 
Equestrian and Plebeian Orders ; while a strong 
garrison was kept up for the defence of the 
province. In the time of Nero the Twenty-second 
Legion, which was stationed here under the com- 
mand of Claudius Paternus, bore the proud title 
of Pia et Fidelis (Leal and Faithful). When the 
position of the Cemenelum of this period is con- 
sidered, it must be remembered that it formed 
one of the chain of Roman cities along the 
Via Aurelia — or, as it was called in earlier days 
at this part of the coast, the Via Julia Augusta. 
This road was carried by Augustus from Vada 
Sabato (Vado) through Turbia (La Turbie) 
to the Var, in 12 b.c, and was, of course, a 
continuation of the Via Aurelia, which after- 
wards imposed its name on the whole length 
of the highway, from Rome to Arelate (Aries). 

The scanty remains of the public edifices of 
Cemenelum which are still in existence bear 
eloquent evidence to the grandeur which the 
city must ultimately have attained. The scarred 



24 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

walls of the amphitheatre — more of which 
have been negligently suffered to disappear and 
crumble into dust during recent years, than 
probably in several preceding centuries — prove 
by their dimensions that an audience of at least 
four thousand people could be seated therein, 
which, according to the calculations usually 
adopted, would show the population of the city 
to have been twenty thousand — no mean number 
in that age. Some authors have doubted these 
figures, but apparently without much justifica- 
tion when the actual measurements of the 
amphitheatre are considered, approximately two 
hundred and ten feet in length, and a hundred and 
sixty-five feet in breadth from the outside walls. 
From the method of building employed, it would 
appear to date from the end of the third century. 
Although the level of the interior has naturally 
been considerably raised in the course of cen- 
turies, yet it is tolerably certain that the original 
depth from the arena to the podium was not 
more than eight feet — a foot deeper than at 
present ; this is practically proved by the fact 
that the remains of an aqueduct exist, the arch 
of which is nearly level with the soil. From this 
it may be deduced that the amphitheatre was 
not, primarily, built for games in which wild 
beasts were introduced — although we have later 



THE ROMAN DOMINION 25 

instances where this was so — as in that case 
the depth was always nearly double — but was 
intended to serve for gladiatorial shows, dancing, 
and gymnastics. Up to the end of the nineteenth 
century, the holes wherein had been inserted 
the sockets for the poles supporting the velarium 
were still to be seen on the higher part of the 
ruins, but they are no longer in existence. The 
baths, as in all Roman cities, were of great 
importance, and it is within comparatively 
recent years that their remains have been 
allowed to disappear. It is related that early 
in the nineteenth century a large basin of white 
marble, surrounded with the remnants of a 
covered colonnade, still existed. The valuable 
marbles were removed, and the remainder natu- 
rally fell into ruin. In the late 'eighties the 
clearly defined remnants of the hypocaust were 
to be seen near this spot, and a pavement com- 
posed of alternate squares of green and white 
marble — each some six inches in diameter — 
of which no trace is now to be discovered. 
Adjoining the site of the baths is the building — 
still used as a peasant's cottage, as it has been 
for generations — known as the Temple of Apollo. 
Some writers have pretended that this was 
merely a large hall for the recreation of the 
bathers, or perhaps a dressing-room divided 



26 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

into small cubicles ; but there is strong evidence 
for believing it to have been really the Temple 
of the Sun-god. Durante, in his " Histoire de 
Nice," refers to it as such, and quotes from the 
martyrology of Saint Pons that the Prefect 
Marcus Claudius, from his seat in the amphi- 
theatre, vainly exhorted this Saint to go and 
sacrifice to the god here, " Ecce proxime venera- 
bilis Apollinis templum accede et sacrifica " 
(" Lo, hard by is the sanctuary of the god 
Apollo, go thither and offer sacrifice to him "). 
The edifice in question was known to the ancients 
as the Basilica, and Sulzer and other travellers 
after him believed they recognized some traces 
of the sacred portico, where the high priest 
delivered the oracles of the god. Statues and 
other fragments — all of which go to prove the 
cult of this divinity — were discovered here in 
early times. What remains to-day, encumbered 
by the peasant's lodging before referred to, is an 
apse facing to the south, and a carved cornice 
in the interior. There is no sign of any entrance 
to the north, as would be expected, and access 
to the temple was probably obtained on the 
west side, where a fine arch remains ; there are 
also traces of lateral staircases. Arches, too, 
are to be seen on the eastern side, which may 
have supported a crypt. The whole building is 



THE ROMAN DOMINION 27 

composed of square, rough stones, some six 
inches on either face ; and these are interrupted 
every six feet with a layer of thin Roman bricks, 
three deep. 

The Temple of Diana rose but a few yards 
away, on the site of the present Monastery 
Church. When the foundations of this sanctuary 
were being dug, in 1450, the workmen brought 
to light many tombs, marble coffins, funeral urns 
filled with ashes, silver and bronze lamps, and a 
number of medals, coins, and other curious 
antiquities, most of them bearing inscriptions 
which prove the existence of the temple of the 
goddess on this spot. Many other objects were 
found at later periods — notably in the seventeenth 
century ; and in 1628 the Consuls of Nice offered 
a great number of these antiquities to the Duke 
of Savoy (Charles Emmanuel the Great) — who 
enriched the Museum of Turin with them — and 
to Honore Grimaldi, Prince of Monaco, who had 
already a fine collection in the galleries of his 
palace. The modern Cimiez has been built 
chiefly outside the walls of the ancient city, 
and but few finds are now to be recorded. 
Sufficient, however, remains to prove — in con- 
junction with the mention of the town by con- 
temporary writers — that Cemenelum was a rich, 
populous, and prosperous city, frequented by 



28 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

many Roman patricians, and the capital of a 
flourishing province. But the details of its life 
are practically entirely lacking ; and its ultimate 
destruction was so complete that for many 
centuries no hamlet ever called to mind its 
former greatness. 

It is not difficult, however, to form a picture 
of the sort of city that Cemenelum must have 
been in the heyday of its splendour and pros- 
perity. The villas of the rich patricians had 
probably overflowed the circle of Cyclopean 
walls which defended the town, and spread 
down the pleasant vine and olive-clad slopes, 
almost to the gates of Nice, clustered round its 
rocky citadel. Within the town the amphi- 
theatre, with the two temples of which we know, 
and possibly others beside, the baths, the three 
colleges mentioned by ancient writers, and the 
imposing house of the Governor, on the plateau, 
sweeping the whole wide range of view to the 
far Esterel Mountains in the west, with the 
houses of Nice clustered near the edge of those 
blue waters now known as the Bay of Angels, 
which stretch away to the distant battlements of 
Antipolis (Antibes), " the city opposite to Nice." 
It must have been a town of gardens and pleasant 
places, for Nature is bountiful on this favoured 
soil, and the forests which spread out towards the 



VISIT OF THE EMPRESS POPP.EA 29 

mountains behind must have afforded consider- 
able sport to those who cared for the pleasures 
of the chase ; for it is known that wild boar, 
wolves, and other fierce beasts were plentiful 
in that district. 

Such, then, was the town, one of those luxurious 
provincial capitals which the Romans multiplied 
as the Empire waxed, and which flourished 
almost everywhere, until the sudden end. Dis- 
tinguished visitors were not lacking, for it is 
recorded by Tacitus that the Empress Poppsea, 
the wife of Nero, made a triumphant entry 
into Cemenelum after her first childbirth. Two 
centuries later, some time between a.d. 260 and 
a.d. 268, the Empress Julia Cornelia Salonina, 
wife of the Emperor Gallienus, spent the winter 
here, as an inscription recovered from the ruins 
of the baths shows. The sojourn of this Empress 
was marked by several incidents, one at least of 
which is worth rescuing from oblivion. The 
towns of Cemenelum and Nicsea were great 
rivals at this epoch, never forgetting their 
different origins. So it happened that during 
the Empress's stay important games were ar- 
ranged to be held in the amphitheatre, in the 
presence of the Augusta, at which two champions 
were to defend the renown of their respective 
cities. The Greek retiarius Pteros was to 



80 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

fight to the death the champion of Cemenelum, 
who was called Lantulus. The combat was a 
superb one, and for an hour the heroes struggled 
as victory seemed to lean now to one side and 
now to the other ; then, at length, as the net 
was thrown, Lantulus escaped by swiftly leaping 
aside, and stood facing his adversary, his short 
sword raised against the trident, almost breast 
to breast. The Empress, thrilled with the 
valour of the champions, rose in her seat, 
and ordered them to stay their hands. Frantic 
applause broke out from the crowded amphi- 
theatre, and the Prsefect, Aurelius Januarius, 
seizing an olive branch from the hands of a 
priestess, leapt into the arena and interposed 
it between the combatants, who removed their 
helmets and gave each other the kiss of peace. 
At this happy moment a shriek rang through the 
air, for the Empress recognized in the so-called 
Lantulus her son Valerianus, the heir to the 
Imperial Crown. He had been standing beside 
her earlier in the day, at the commencement of 
the games, and she had not noticed his absence. 
The mother blamed the temerity of the son, 
but the Sovereign forgave the rash act which was 
intended to uphold the honour of the Latin race 
against the Greek champion. 

But the residence of the Empress Julia 



INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY 31 

Cornelia Salonina was marked in a more im- 
portant manner, for during her stay at Cimiez 
she stopped the bloodthirsty persecutions of the 
Praefect Marcus Claudius against the Christians. 
The exact date of the introduction of Christi- 
anity into these parts is unknown, but it was 
undoubtedly at a very early period. Nash 
records a curious old legend telling how, in the 
year a.d. 62, the Jews of Palestine, enraged at 
the progress of the new religion, and attributing 
a great part of its success to some of the favoured 
friends of Jesus, determined to get rid of them 
altogether. Seizing, therefore, Mary Magdalene, 
Salome, Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, and 
others, they thrust them into a barque without 
sail or rudder, and let them drift on the Mediter- 
ranean. The vessel, however, was under Divine 
protection ; impelled by an unseen hand, it 
glided over the waters, and at length landed its 
freight in safety on the shores of the Riviera. 
Here the voyagers separated, Lazarus to 
evangelize Marseilles, and Mary Magdalene to 
make known the Gospel at Nice. The valley 
through which the Magnan flows still bears her 
name, and the little church there is called, to this 
day, the church of the Magdalen. The number 
of Christians steadily increased here, but it is 
not to be supposed that their lot was different 



32 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

from that of their co-religionists elsewhere. 
In the time of Claudius it is recorded by Paulus 
Britius that Saint Barnabas successfully preached 
the Gospel in Nice and made many converts. 
The Genoese (according to Fitzpatrick), who 
were independent of the Imperial authority, 
say that Christianity was introduced into their 
city between the years a.d. 46 and a.d. 53, 
and that they gave shelter to many of the 
early Christians flying from persecution. The 
people of Genoa were converts of the Saints 
Nazarius and Celsus ; the former came from 
some part of Africa and baptized Celsus, the 
son of a noble lady of Cimiez. They afterwards 
went to Genoa, and subsequently suffered martyr- 
dom, some say in Rome, others at Milan, during 
the persecutions of Nero. From their first con- 
version in the reign of Constantine, the Christians 
of Nice continued to suffer from pagan fanaticism, 
particularly under Diocletian, and many were 
martyred ; but the progress of Christianity was 
not hindered. Saint Dalmatius conveyed the 
good tidings of a Redeemer to the inhabitants 
of the mountains ; Saint Bassus, his disciple, 
became the first Bishop of Nice, and gloriously 
expired in torments inflicted on him by Perennius, 
the Roman Prsefect at Cimiez, in the year 
a.d. 253. Saint Pontius, a patrician who fled 



MARTYRDOM OF SAINT PONS 33 

from Rome to escape the fury of the Emperor 
Decius, succeeded Saint Bassus both as an 
Apostle and a martyr. 

Many are the stories related as to the martyr- 
dom of Saint Pons, as he is generally called. 
It has already been recorded how the Saint refused 
to sacrifice to Apollo, when ordered to do so by 
the Praefect, Marcus Claudius, who had succeeded 
Perennius, the executioner of Saint Bassus. 
Sentence of death was therefore passed upon 
him, which was confirmed by the Emperor 
Valerianus, for a Senator could not be put to 
death without the Imperial warrant. It is 
related of Saint Pons that he was the son of a 
Roman named Marcus, and of Julia, his wife. 
During twenty-two years of marriage no child 
was born to them, and the gods turned a deaf ear 
to their prayer that they might be blessed with 
offspring. At last they prayed to the Unknown 
God, and Julia conceived. Some months after- 
wards, when she entered the Temple of Jupiter, 
the high priest drove her out, crying, " The 
child which this woman bears in her womb 
shall overthrow this mighty temple." The boy 
was born, and in due time became a Prsefect 
and a Roman Senator ; upon his conversion to 
Christianity the prophecy was fulfilled, for 
the temple was turned into a church, and so 



34 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

remained for seven years, until the persecution 
of Valerianus and Gallienus broke out. On 
May 11th, a.d. 261, the Saint, being condemned 
to death, was again brought into the amphi- 
theatre, but the two bears who were intended 
to devour him knelt at his feet and refused to 
harm him. Torture was tried in vain, for the 
instruments of torment became blunt ; they 
endeavoured to burn him, but the flames did 
him no hurt ; so he was hurried down the hill 
to an eminence overlooking the bank of the 
Paillon, and here they cut off his head. But 
even then further miracles took place, for, like 
the legend of the martyrdom of Saint Paul the 
Apostle in the Campagna at Rome, it is related 
that the head of the martyr made three bounds 
and rolled into the river, while a spring immedi- 
ately burst out at each of the three places where 
it had come into contact with the soil. The local 
legend goes on to say that the head of the Saint 
floated between two lighted torches on the waters 
of the Paillon down to the sea. It was picked 
up by some fisherfolk near the Islands of Hyeres, 
and they bore it to the church of Saint Victor, 
at Marseilles, where we are also told that the 
body of Saint Pons was transported in the night 
which followed his execution, borne thither by 
two angels. 



AMPHITHEATRE OF CIMIEZ 35 

It was in consequence of the martyrdom of 
the Saint that the Empress Julia Cornelia 
Salonina prevailed upon the Emperor Gallienus 
to stop the persecution of the Christians, and 
she procured the dismissal of the Prsefect, Marcus 
Claudius, who had instigated it, and the appoint- 
ment of Aurelius Januarius in his stead. In 
gratitude for her goodness, the inhabitants of the 
town set up an inscription on the principal gate 
of the city, which is still extant. 1 

We hear no more of this noble lady, except 
that she drank the waters of Roquebilliere — a 
little country place not far distant, which was 
then much frequented for this purpose, and 
which still exhibits some remains of Roman 
constructions — for her health, and was much 
benefited thereby. 

One more story of the old Cemenelum of this 
period must be repeated, for it is a legend as 
curious as any which is found on this country- 
side. During the persecutions of the Christians 
about this epoch, Tatia, a young convert, 

1 It runs as follows : — 

Corneliae Saloninae 
Sanctissim Avg. 
Conivg. Gallieni 
Ivnioris Avg. N. ordo. 

Cemenel. Cvraut. 
Avrelio. Janvario. 
V. E. 



36 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

refused to burn incense on the altar of Jupiter. 
She was haled into the amphitheatre, but as the 
panthers were being loosed on her, she re- 
canted, and offered incense to the god ; a fort- 
night afterwards she died from shame and 
remorse. A thousand years later the painter 
Randazzo (who was a pupil of Raphael) was 
caught in a storm one night, and took refuge 
in the ruins of the amphitheatre, which were, at 
that time, very considerable. To him appeared 
the wraith of Tatia, who conducted him to a 
room richly decorated with mosaics, and lighted 
by Etruscan lamps. Here they feasted, served 
by kneeling Ethiopian slaves. After supper she 
carried her ghostly complaisance so far as to be 
anxious to repeat before his eyes the scene of a 
thousand years before ; and, taking the painter 
by the hand, she drew him into the arena, which 
gradually filled with patricians and warriors, 
while wide- jawed lions growled, and fantastic 
lights appeared. As the wild beasts rushed on 
their prey, Randazzo made the sign of the Cross, 
and found himself standing alone in the deserted 
amphitheatre, in the pitchy darkness of night, 
with no sign of Tatia, or any of the phantom 
crowd which had surrounded him a moment 
previously. 

In regard to the immediate neighbourhood 



EMPERORS VITELLIUS AND OTHO 37 

of Cimiez and Nice there is but little to record 
under any of the Caesars. The twin towns must 
have been neutral, and spectators only of the 
contests between the troops of Otho and Vitellius, 
and afterwards between the armies of the latter 
and those of Vespasian, for it would have been 
folly to intervene, although the hostile factions 
were sometimes fighting almost within sight 
of their walls. Beyond the main results of 
these operations little is known. The armies of 
Vitellius and Otho met in battle at La Brague, 
but the victory was to neither of them, for both 
were so exhausted after the combat that Vitellius 
withdrew his troops to Antibes, while Otho 
retreated as far as Albenga. Thus, on this 
occasion, the succession to the throne of Nero 
remained still undecided. There is a village in 
the interior of the country, some ten or twelve 
miles from Ventimiglia, called Breglio (prselium — 
a battle), which is supposed to have been the 
place where the partisans of Otho tried to get 
into the mountains, but no credit is given by 
serious writers to this tradition, though it may 
have been here that Marcus was defeated. 
The memory of such events is extraordinarily 
preserved at times, long after the real facts 
have been obscured, and this is especially so in 
this case, for the field where the action was 



38 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

fought is still called " La Piazza Rossa " (the 
red place), and a plain above it where the war- 
cry of the assailants was heard is known as 
" Cribella." 

One figure stands out somewhat prominently 
at this epoch as a native of the county of Nice, 
that of the Emperor Pertinax, who was born 
somewhere between Nice and Monaco. But 
it is not only as a native of the place that he has 
powerful claims to distinction, but also on 
account of the excellence of his life in a corrupt 
age, when the Roman name was becoming 
smirched with hideous vices, and her citizens 
were drunk with the blood and gold of so many 
other nations. Fitzpatrick tells us that Pertinax 
was the son of a slave, or freedman, who earned 
his livelihood by making charcoal. The future 
Emperor was called Helvius, and he gained his 
surname of Pertinax from his obstinacy in 
refusing to follow his father's trade. Though 
Pertinax was born in so humble a sphere of life, 
he overcame his early lack of instruction and 
educated himself, acquiring so good a knowledge 
of Greek and Latin that he ventured to teach 
those tongues not only in Etruria, but even in 
Rome. He did not, however, make a success 
of this profession, and soon left it to enter the 
Army. He was not long in attaining to the 



THE EMPEROR PERTINAX 39 

rank of Centurion, and was afterwards Praefect 
of a Cohort which served in Syria and Britain, 
when he defeated the Caledonians. The Emperor, 
Marcus Aurelius, raised him to the Senate, gave 
him the command of the First Legion, and sent 
him to the Tyrol to conduct a campaign against 
the people of Rhaetia, whom he subdued. He 
also held the government of Moesia (modern 
Servia), and after serving as Consul, was ap- 
pointed Governor of Rome by the Emperor 
Commodus. 

When, shortly afterwards, the Roman Empire 
was freed from this tyrant the people unani- 
mously acclaimed Pertinax as his successor. The 
charcoal-burner's son accepted the throne with 
reluctance, but having done so, he fully justified 
the choice which had been made by the modesty, 
prudence, justice, and humanity which he dis- 
played during his brief reign of eighty-seven days, 
at the end of which time he was murdered by 
the Praetorian Guards, who mutinied in con- 
sequence of reforms which it was intended to 
introduce into their discipline. The character 
of Pertinax was an unusual one for the times 
in which he lived ; he refused to confirm the 
titles usually conferred on the wives and sons 
of Caesars, and objected to having his own name 
inscribed on public places, which, he said, 



40 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

belonged not to the Emperor, but to the public. 
He sold all the dresses, horses, arms, slaves, 
and other instruments of pleasure and luxury 
which had belonged to Commodus, as well as his 
silver statues, and by this means raised so large 
a sum for the service of the State as to enable 
him to abolish the taxes on rivers, ports, and 
roads, which had been imposed in the previous 
reign. He recalled those who had been sent into 
exile, and restored to their former dignities 
all of the victims of Commodus who survived. 
He pardoned the Consul Falco, who conspired 
against him ; and in the end died as nobly as he 
had lived, for — contrary to the advice of his 
friends — he refused to conceal himself from the 
three hundred revolted Praetorians who had 
surrounded his palace, and appeared boldly 
before them, asking whether they, who were 
sworn to defend their Emperor, were come to 
shed his blood. His intrepidity so affected some 
of the mutineers that they began to withdraw, 
when one of the bolder and more seditious 
among them hurled a javelin at the Emperor, 
exclaiming, " The soldiers send you this ! " The 
crime was immediately consummated, for the 
others joined in its perpetration, and Pertinax — 
covering his head with his mantle — fell, invoking 
the vengeance of the gods on his murderers. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROVINCE 41 

But to return to the story of Cimiez and its 
sister towns ; the life of pleasure and luxury 
went on as the years glided into centuries, 
and the Roman power spread over and civilized 
every part of the country, leaving memorials of 
its greatness on all sides, many of which are 
extant to this day ; these will be dealt with 
later, under the headings of their respective 
localities. Still, to show how widespread was the 
development of the country-side, it may be 
mentioned that inscriptions have been found as 
far afield as Chateauneuf, which prove it to 
have been an important military station, and 
remnants which disclose the existence of a temple 
of Juno at Bendejun. Most of these inscriptions 
are but the dry records of historical facts, 
but here and there one comes across some little 
touch in their stiff Latinity which seems to make 
the stones cry out, and to annihilate the centuries 
by the flash of human interest which suddenly 
appears. 

Such a one is that pathetic epitaph of a bygone 
world which commemorates a Roman lad of 
Antipolis, which is to be seen on the outer wall 
of the Hotel de Ville, at Antibes, to-day. Here 
it is : " D(ivis) M(anibus) pueri Septemrionis 
anno se(tatis) XII qui Antipoli in theatro biduo 
saltavit et placuit " ("To the manes of the 



42 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

boy Septemrio, aged twelve years, who danced 
and pleased for the space of two days in the 
Theatre of Antibes "). Many writers have noticed 
this funeral stone ; one of the best known of the 
modern school of French authors has even 
written a story round it, a story spoilt entirely 
by the unwarrantable change of sex. The whole 
interest of speculation would disappear were 
the stone but the record of a dancing girl ; it 
is the almost unique fact of a memorial of this 
sort having been erected to a boy which invests 
it with so much curious wonder. 

Arazi thus describes the charming ornamenta- 
tion of this tablet, on which two stems of ivy 
and three cypresses surmount the inscription : 
" The feathers show the agility of the boy 
Septemrio, the urn which receives the ashes of 
the young and old, the two roses which spring 
from it — one in bud, the other full-blown — 
signify the frailty of life in youth and age, and 
its connection with the time and act of the boy ; 
while the leaning position of the two roses shows 
that the lad died in the flower of his age. The 
other pair of roses — set one on either side — is in 
accordance with the ancient custom of adorning 
with flowers the tombs of those who left behind 
them the sweet perfume of some praiseworthy 
deed." 



DANCING BOY OF ANTIBES 43 

Who was Septemrio, and what caused his 
death ? The answer we shall never know ; 
yet in fancy we can see again the theatre of 
Antipolis risen from its scattered dust, the steep 
tiers of seats — thronged with an enthusiastic 
crowd of applauding citizens — stretching up to 
the blue sky, only visible a little space under 
the sides of the vast purple and gold-spangled 
Velarium. " For two days Septemrio danced 
and pleased." That is all we know ; the manner 
of his passing is hidden from us, and the reasons 
which caused so brave a monument to be set 
up above his ashes have vanished as completely 
as that dust itself. But the little touch of 
Nature remains, and we realize that men loved, 
and lost, and mourned in the days of old Rome 
as deeply as they do now the world has grown 
greyer. Sleep in peace, Septemrio, for it is thy 
reward ! 

On how many of our tombstones could the 
record end with " et placuit " ? 



CHAPTER III 

The coming of the Lombards — The sack of Cimiez and the destruc- 
tion of Nice — The legend of Saint Hospice — The passing of the 
Franks — The plague — The Saracen incursions — Gradual evolution 
of the County of Provence — The Saracens' power broken — Reli- 
gious fervour of the times — The ejectment of the Knights Templar 
by Charles of Anjou — Guelphs and Ghibellines— The tale of Queen 
Joanna — First appearance of the House of Savoy — The county 
raised to a dukedom — Amadeus VIII elected Pope as Felix V. 

THE Western Empire received its final blow 
in the deposition of Romulus Augustulus 
in a.d. 476, and the Roman sway was at an 
end. A kingdom of Italy was formed under 
Odoacer as its Sovereign, and a treaty made 
between this monarch and Euric, King of the 
Visigoths, fixed the River Var as the boundary 
between the countries of Gaul and Italy. But 
when a great Empire is dissolved, the evolution 
of new nationalities and the construction of 
fresh states is naturally a slow process, for time 
is required for the scattered elements once 
more to cohere and consolidate. So, though 
Nice and Cimiez were geographically included 
in the kingdom of Italy, they were actually 
politically unattached for long years. At the 
end of the fifth century, however, Gondebaud 

44 



COMING OF THE LOMBARDS 45 

invaded the land at the head of his fierce Bur- 
gundians, and Nice was sacked and reduced to a 
condition of the greatest misery. Not long after- 
wards Theodoric, leading an army of eighty 
thousand Visigoths, again brought desolation 
into the country, flooding the basin of the Var 
with his hosts, while driving before him the 
forces of Clovis, King of the Franks. During 
these invasions Cimiez seems to have escaped, 
but the day of its fall was drawing nigh. 
Saint Hospitius (or Hospice, as he is generally 
called), a pious anchorite who dwelt in an old 
tower at the end of the promontory which now 
bears his name, foretold the event some years 
previously. " Venient in Galliam Longobardi, 
et vastabunt civitates septem " (The Lombards 
shall invade Gaul and totally wipe out seven 
cities "). Bouche, in his " Chorographie de 
Provence " (1664), makes Saint Hospice add, 
" pour la punition des grands pechez qui reg- 
noient en Gaule principalement en Provence " 
(" . . . eo quod increuerit malita Gallorum in 
conspectu Domini "). 

The events which led up to this invasion 
and their sequel are well summarized by Durante 
in his " Histoire de Nice." He explains that 
on the death of Alboin in a.d. 574, the principal 
chiefs of the Lombards divided his kingdom 



46 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

among themselves ; they formed a confederation 
which lasted ten years, and during the whole 
of this period Italy — governed by ten dukes — 
lay helplessly bound in the chains of an iron 
despotism. At the expiration of this period, 
that is to say in a.d. 584, Amond, Zaban, and 
another Alboin formed a project to go and 
punish the Franks and Burgundians for the 
ravages which they had unceasingly committed 
during the troublous times of the confederation. 
Amond crossed the Alps by way of Embrun ; 
Zaban followed the road by Digne, and Alboin 
advanced to the banks of the Var along the 
coast of Liguria. Their undisciplined hordes 
spread over the country-side breathing destruc- 
tion and vengeance. Wherever they went they 
left a name of terror behind them, for they were 
wantonly cruel. It is reported of them that, 
coming into the country while the corn was yet 
unripe, they cut it down for fodder for their 
horses ; and they not only pillaged, but massa- 
cred and outraged the inhabitants without regard 
either to age or sex. The resistance which they 
experienced only added to their fury, and in a 
very short space they had overrun the whole 
country. The cities of Nice and Cimiez alone 
remained standing, but their fate was not long in 
overtaking them. When the barbarians at length 



THE SACK OF CIMIEZ 47 

approached Cimiez, its inhabitants, trusting too 
implicitly in the lofty walls which had up to that 
time preserved their independence, resolved to 
defend the town, and obstinately disdained the 
threats of Duke Alboin, who, irritated by an 
obstacle which was hindering his advance into 
Gaul, swore to leave no stone upon another in 
the offending city. 

The siege was long and deadly, but at length 
the Lombards forced an entry over the ramparts 
of Cimiez, and, like tigers excited by the lust of 
blood, they spread themselves through the 
town, fire and sword in hand, massacring piti- 
lessly every living soul, man, woman, and child, 
who came in the way of their fury. When the 
effusion of blood was stayed from sheer weariness, 
the soldiery, in their greed for loot, swept through 
the private houses, temples, and public buildings, 
and crowned their ghastly vengeance by setting 
fire to the four quarters of the city. In the 
middle of the nineteenth century some cellars 
were discovered full of wheat blackened by time 
and fire, which are believed to have dated from 
this epoch. So fell the capital of the Maritime 
Alps, celebrated for its power, its noble memories, 
and its venerable antiquity, experiencing, as 
Paul the Deacon remarks in his " Historia 
Langobardorum," the fate of Troy, from which 



48 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

it may have originally sprung. All the remains 
found attest the completeness of the destruction 
of the city by fire ; everything must have been 
utterly wiped out, except the debris of those 
massive edifices which still remain, and which 
were so strongly built as to withstand even the 
ravages of the flames. 

It was now the turn of Nice, on the sea-shore, 
and the invaders were in no mood to extend 
mercy to it. The catastrophe of Cimiez had 
served as a lesson to the inhabitants of that 
place, and they endeavoured to conjure the 
storm by making prompt submission. But the 
haughty Lombard chief, influenced by the con- 
quest of the old Roman city on the hill, as soon 
as he was master of the town, delivered it in like 
fashion to the flames. Ardisson, in his MS. 
" Delle cose di Nizza," vouches for this, and it 
is also referred to by Jean Baptiste du Guesnay, 
in his " Histoire de Marseille " : " Sed paulo-post, 
Alboinus Langobardorum Dux cum magno ex- 
ercitu ex Liguria venit, armis et igne fere omnes 
urbes Gallise Narbonensis destructas miserabiliter 
oppressit, Cemenelum, Niciam, Antipolim," etc. 
(" But not long afterwards, Alboin, Duke of the 
Lombards, came with a great army out of 
Liguria, and destroyed and wrought great havoc 
on nearly all the cities of Gallia Narbonensis — 



LEGEND OF SAINT HOSPICE 49 

Cimiez, Nice, Antibes, etc., with both fire and 
sword "). Saint Hospice, who had predicted 
these events, speaks in these terms of the 
depredations of the soldiers of Alboin. " Cuncta 
deripiunt, vastant, incendiunt, demoliuntur quae 
obviam inveniunt " ("Everything which they 
come across do they cast down, lay waste, burn, 
and utterly destroy "). Legend relates that 
the Saint was horribly tortured by this godless 
soldiery, and would have been beheaded, but 
the arm of the barbarian who had raised his sword 
for that purpose was suddenly stiffened, and he 
was unable to lower it ; it had become, in the 
words of the old chronicler, " heavier than brass 
and colder than marble." So the long Roman 
civilization disappeared from the Riviera, and 
the clock was set back by several centuries. 
The few inhabitants of Cimiez who had escaped 
the barbarous slaughter of the Lombards betook 
themselves to Nice, and with the pitiful remnant 
left in that town, endeavoured to restore and 
fortify it as best they could. But Cimiez was 
never restored, and disappears completely from 
the page of history. How utterly all memory of 
the past had been wiped out was evidenced by the 
name, still remembered late in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, by which the peasants of the locality knew 
the amphitheatre — Tina difada, the Fairies' Cup ! 



50 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

But the troubles of Nice were not yet over. 
Some ten years after the fatal invasion of the 
Lombards the town became subject to the 
Franks, who easily captured it before crossing 
the Var in order to make war on the Lombards. 
The presence of these new enemies brought 
fresh calamities on Nice, which did not cease 
until a treaty — purchased with a heavy sum — 
delivered Italy from their presence. Nice, however, 
was retained by Childebert, King of Austrasia, 
and was formally ceded to his successor Clotaire 
II, in a.d. 614. To the horrors of war were some- 
times added those of other descriptions. It is 
recorded that there was a terrible visitation of 
plague in a.d. 589, and in a.d. 618 the town 
suffered from the combined scourges of plague, 
famine, inundations, and earthquake. This latter 
was felt all along the sea-coast, from the Pyrenees 
to the southern extremity of Italy ; the country 
round Nice suffered considerably, and the valleys 
of Roquebilliere and Lantosque were metamor- 
phosed. Leprosy also appeared at this time, 
introduced from Asia, and a large hospital for the 
reception of persons afflicted with this disease was 
founded in Nice by a monk named Gaton, sent by 
the Irish Saint Columba, to succour the sick and 
give them the consolations of religion. 

The history of the city is henceforth a moving 



THE SARACEN INCURSIONS 51 

one, for in succeeding centuries it passed through 
every variety of good and bad fortune. Harassed 
for close on three hundred years by the Saracens 
established at Saint Hospice, worried later by the 
Genoese, mixed up in the interminable quarrels 
of the Counts of Provence (for Charlemagne had 
created the county in the eighth century), the 
Dukes of Anjou, the Princes of the House of 
Savoy, and the opposing interests of the Emperor 
Charles V and Francis I of France, it was a 
battle-ground almost without cessation. Be- 
sieged again and again, it suffered frequently 
from plague and famine, always on the defensive, 
till the day when Berwick's guns blew the citadel 
into the air, and terminated the value of the 
town as a stronghold of war, which it had pos- 
sessed for over sixteen centuries. But these 
developments will be shown later. 

It was towards the end of the tenth century 
that the presence of the Saracens in the vicinity 
became intolerable, and William I, Count of 
Provence, determined to break their power. 
After a hard struggle he accomplished his aim, 
and destroyed all their fortified positions, but 
he thought it politic to temper victory with 
clemency, so instead of putting his adversaries 
to the sword, he distributed them as slaves 
in various localities, where they have left an 



52 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

impress of their language in many strange words 
of Arabic origin, which crop up frequently in 
the patois still in use. Gibelin de Grimaldi 
employed many of the Saracen prisoners in 
public works, notably in repairing the fortifica- 
tion of Nice, and until late years a quarter of 
the town used to be known as " lou cantou dai 
Sarrains," from the fact of their residence in it. 

Another calamity said to have been brought 
on the town by these pirates was the prevalence 
of the plague, which in the beginning of the 
eleventh century afflicted Nice. Perhaps it was 
this circumstance which gave rise to the singular 
truce called " La Treve Sainte," agreed on 
between the military chiefs, according to which 
it was settled that no acts of hostility should be 
committed from Wednesday evening to the 
following Monday in every week. It was at this 
period that Count William destroyed the thick 
woods on Cap Ferrat, after his defeat of the 
Saracens, so that they should at no future period 
afford shelter to his enemies. 

The times now brought about an extraordinary 
display of religious feeling, Fitzpatrick tells us, 
which arose from the general belief that the end of 
the world was approaching. Indeed, through fear 
of this catastrophe vast numbers of persons aban- 
doned all mundane affairs, and occupied them- 



RELIGIOUS FERVOUR 53 

selves entirely with the welfare of their souls. 
Immense donations were made to monasteries 
and other religious establishments ; and many 
of the richest lords of Nice and the county 
believed in this prediction, and gave away 
extensive lands to the Abbey of Saint Pons. 
One, Vaison, gave the Castle and fief of Drap 
to the Bishop of Nice, with the title of Count, 
which is still retained by that Prelate, although 
his tenure of the lands entirely ceased in 1849. 

In a.d. 1066 the same author relates that the 
government of Nice was divided between two 
factions, one headed by Cais, devoted to the 
Sovereigns of Provence, and the other — of which 
Badat was the leader — to a Republic, but at 
first no results of importance followed these 
dissensions. In a.d. 1095 a paroxysm of re- 
ligious fanaticism seized the principal part 
of the people of Europe, who all madly enlisted 
for the First Crusade. This event completed 
the affranchisement of the confederate cities, 
which, from that time, independently chose 
their own governors. Among these was Francois 
Raimbaud, or Raimbaldi, of Orange, Lord of 
Castillon, who married Guillelmine Cais, of Nice, 
and having obtained the right of citizenship 
through the fiefs brought him by his wife, had 
been elected to the chief place in the municipality, 



54 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

and governed jointly with two others, Pierre 
Laugiero and Guillaume Assalit, who were called 
Consuls. From documentary evidence, this is 
known to have occurred in the year a.d. 1108, 
and some of the statutes and municipal regula- 
tions of Nice go back to this date. The military 
command was placed in the hands of Raimbaud 
of Orange. 

Here it is necessary to observe, continues the 
historian, that the Counts of Forcalquier, who 
had separated themselves from the Kings of 
Aries, had also exercised for some time previous 
to the appointment of Raimbaud of Orange a 
nominal suzerainty over Nice, and that at the 
death of Gilbert the last descendant of Boson, 
King of Aries, there being no male issue, he 
had instituted as his heiress Douce, his eldest 
daughter, wife of Raymond Berenger, Count of 
Barcelona ; and it was on this ground that 
Raymond claimed the Sovereignty of Nice, 
although William, Count of Forcalquier — who 
was a minor — was living. The city of Nice 
refused to admit this claim, and to strengthen 
their resistance the civic authorities formed 
an offensive and defensive alliance with the 
republic of Pisa, whose vessels soon afterwards 
appeared on the coast of Provence, and so much 
intimidated Raymond Berenger (who was already 



ALLIANCE WITH PISA 55 

engaged in another dispute with Jourdain, Count 
of Toulouse) that he desisted from any further 
proceedings against Nice. This alliance with 
Pisa was the first entry of the city into the 
general movement of the Italian Republics. 
Raymond Berenger, having made peace with 
Jourdain in a.d. 1125, retired to a monastery 
of the Knights Templar, where he died not long 
afterwards. The pretensions of the House of 
Berenger to the Sovereignty of Nice were con- 
tinued by the son and grandson of the claimant, 
both of whom bore the same names ; the son 
was killed at the siege of Melgueil, in a.d. 1144, 
and left an heir who was placed under the 
guardianship of the Count of Barcelona, his 
uncle. An attempt was made by Pierre Armandi, 
the Bishop of Nice, to establish the rights of the 
Count of Barcelona's ward, and though this 
attempt was successful so long as the Count was 
at Nice with his troops, the popular party 
triumphed on the Count's departure. Ultimately 
the young Raymond Berenger, who returned 
and invested the town with an army by land, 
and with the galleys of the Republic of Genoa 
by sea, was killed in escalading the fortifications. 
On the death of this Prince his dominions 
were recognized as having fallen to Alphonso I, 
King of Arragon ; the latter, therefore, came to 



56 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Aix in a.d. 1167, to enter into possession as 
Sovereign of Provence, of the two territories 
which belonged to him, among which Nice was 
included. But the city still opposed the heir of 
the Berengers, and it was not until nearly ten 
years had elapsed from the accession of Alphonso 
that he succeeded in reducing the people of Nice 
to submission. This he ultimately effected by 
surrounding the town with a numerous army 
and fleet, so that the want of provisions obliged 
it to surrender. The capitulation made on this 
occasion was most favourable to Nice, as the 
city was confirmed in all its ancient privileges 
in perpetuity, on condition of paying as a gift 
twenty-five thousand Melgorian sous for war 
expenses, and an annual tribute of two thousand 
of the same coins. Nice was also to furnish one 
hundred cavalry for war service between the 
Var and the Siagne (which empties itself into 
the sea to the east of the Esterel Mountains), 
and fifty more for service from thence to the 
Rhone. If hostilities broke out in the country, 
then all men capable of bearing arms were liable 
to serve. This convention was ratified in a 
singular manner, the King and his two brothers 
kissing the Consuls of Nice on the mouth. 

In the year a.d. 1229 we hear of the town 
submitting itself to Raymond Berenger IV, who 



KNIGHTS TEMPLAR EJECTED 57 

appointed Romeo of Villeneuve as its first 
Governor, and completed the construction of its 
Castle, for it had considerable fortifications at 
this time. When, at a later date, Charles of 
Anjou enjoyed the Sovereignty of Provence, 
he made it a free port, and created its ship- 
building yards and its arsenal. But the most 
striking event in the reign of this Prince occurred 
towards its close, when he effected the ejectment 
of the Knights Templar from their dominions, 
and secured their complete dispersion. The 
instigator of this important measure, says Nash, 
in his " History of Nice," was Philip the Fair, 
King of France, who, professing to be shocked 
at the immorality and impiety of the Templars, 
had decided on the dissolution of their Corpora- 
tion. The celebrated Order being of a religious 
as well as of a military character, he needed the 
highest religious authority in Christendom. This 
he obtained without difficulty, for Pope Clement 
V, who then occupied the Chair of Saint Peter, 
owed his elevation to Philip the Fair, and 
throughout the whole of his Pontificate was 
little more than a tool in the hand of the French 
King. The necessary plans were cleverly con- 
trived, and were executed with promptitude 
and secrecy. On October 13th, 1307, soldiers 
presented themselves before every establish- 



58 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

ment of the Templars throughout France ; the 
superiors were arrested, and the subordinates 
dispersed. At Nice everything was done so 
quietly and so suddenly that Knights and people 
alike were taken entirely by surprise. 

The Templars often having been very service- 
able to the poor, it was necessary to satisfy these 
latter, and indeed the public generally, as to 
the justice of their expulsion. Immorality was 
the plea ; but in this case, as in that of the 
suppression of the monasteries in the time of 
Henry VIII, the cupidity of the Sovereign was 
undoubtedly the motive power. Had these Orders 
been less wealthy, less would probably have been 
heard of their immorality. What is certain is, 
that in both cases the Kings filled their coffers 
with the spoils of the dispersed communities. 

Charles died in May, 1309, and was succeeded 
by his son, Robert, Duke of Calabria. Here, 
continues Nash, one cannot help remarking 
on the greatly improved condition of the family 
of Anjou, as compared with what it was at the 
commencement of the previous reign. When 
the late Prince inherited the paternal titles, he 
was himself a prisoner, a great part of his in- 
heritance was in the hands of the enemy, and 
other parts were aiming at effecting their inde- 
pendence. Robert, on the contrary, enjoyed an 



GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES 59 

undisputed title to his possessions. The Count- 
ships of Anjou and of Provence, and the kingdoms 
of Naples and Sicily, descended to him without 
opposition. Powerful Princes, moreover, ac- 
knowledged his supremacy. Such was the case, 
for instance, with the Count of Orange and the 
Dauphin of Vienne. The Genoese were pleased 
to elect him President of their Republic, and 
as if to fill up the measure of his honour, Clement 
V appointed him commander of all his forces, 
naval and military. His was not a war-like 
character, yet he behaved with promptitude 
and energy when war was necessary, and was 
generally successful. 

The party strife between Guelphs and Ghibel- 
lines being fierce in his time, he was prepared 
to support the side he had espoused. In 1318 
Lascaris, the Lord of Tenda, a state near Nice, 
allied himself with Spinola, of Genoa, and Doria, 
of Dolceacqua, for the furtherance of Ghibelline 
principles. Guelphic Nice, being in their neigh- 
bourhood, attracted their attention and invited 
attack. Robert dispatched twelve thousand of 
his lances for the protection of his town, sending 
at the same time a certain number of ships to 
prevent the enemy's approach by sea. Beaten 
then, or thwarted in all directions, these Ghibel- 
line chiefs sought for peace. 



60 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

The struggle between the rival parties was 
maintained much longer in Italy, where Louis 
of Bavaria had many and powerful partisans, 
but being worsted in a decisive battle by the 
Guelphic champion, Robert of Anjou, in 1330, 
he made overtures for a cessation of hostilities, 
which, being favourably received, resulted in 
a treaty of peace. 

A very extraordinary event followed the 
signing of the treaty ; one unique perhaps in 
history — it being nothing less than the abdica- 
tion and self-denunciation of a Pope. We learn 
from Nash's history that, on August 9th, 
1330, Nice was in a state of perplexity ; every- 
body was summoned to the Cathedral, and 
no one knew why. At an early hour crowds 
streamed thitherward from all quarters, so that 
the sacred building was thronged. Never before 
had there been so vast a congregation, never one 
so brilliant. Robed and mitred, and seated 
on his episcopal throne, was the Bishop of Nice. 
Within the altar rails were other Bishops, as 
well as Cardinals from France and Italy. Near 
them were nobles of Provence and other im- 
portant personages. It was indeed a goodly 
assemblage ; for the conveners of the meeting, 
understanding the importance of the occasion, 
had brought there the most distinguished and 



ABDICATION OF A POPE 61 

influential men from several neighbouring coun 
tries — from Anjou and Provence, from France 
and Italy. 

The aspect of the meeting was not a gay one, 
however ; there was no appearance of religious 
festivity, still less of a civil fete. An air of 
gravity prevailed, for few among the multitude 
present knew what was to take place ; and all 
believed it to be something serious. After a 
lengthened and almost painful silence, a simple 
monk was seen to emerge from the passage 
leading into the vestry. Arrived at the door, he 
hesitated for a moment, as if unable or un- 
willing to proceed, but, with evident effort, 
collecting all his strength, he entered the church. 
Then, with slow step and head bowed down low, 
and humble mien, he advanced towards the 
altar. Having knelt on the altar step for some 
time, he arose and faced the expectant crowd. 
How few who saw that bared head knew that 
it had lately worn the triple crown of Christen- 
dom ! or imagined that his Friar's dress had 
replaced the gorgeous vestments of the Roman 
Pontiff ! yet so it was. Here, in the Cathedral 
of Nice, was Nicholas V, acknowledged by a 
great part of the Church as Pope ; and he had 
come here to abdicate his functions and denounce 
himself as an impostor. In a voice scarcely 



62 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

audible from emotion, he began his address 
to the people. He was aware, he said, that the 
majority of persons present knew not why they 
had come together that day in that sacred 
edifice ; but with shame and sorrow he confessed 
that he was the cause of it. 

In an evil hour, and under the influence of 
Satan, he had set himself in opposition to the 
Lord's Anointed ; he had committed sacrilege 
in going through the ceremony of coronation as 
Pope, while the true Pontiff was yet living ; he 
had created a scandalous schism in the Church ; 
he had disturbed the faith and diverted the 
obedience of many from their proper object ; 
and he was there that day to express the deepest 
sorrow and contrition for his faults, and to ask 
pardon of God and man for his crimes. He was 
there, moreover, to absolve all men from any 
supposed allegiance to himself, to declare himself 
Antipope, and to acknowledge John XXII 
as the true successor of Saint Peter. It is not 
necessary to dwell on the effect on the public of 
this extraordinary scene ; it can be imagined 
better than described. When it was over the 
principal figure in it — Peter de Corvaria, the 
Franciscan Friar who had been won over by 
Louis of Bavaria to set himself up against the 
real Pope — retired quietly to the Convent of 



TALE OF QUEEN JOANNA 63 

Franciscans at Nice, whence, in a few days, he 
was conducted to the Papal residence in 
Avignon, where he passed the remainder of his 
days in prison. 

One of the most curious things in the story of 
Nice is the number of unexpected figures which 
we come across either in connection with its 
development, or the unlooked-for personalities 
who sometimes flit for a brief moment across the 
stage of its activities. Such an one is that of 
Queen Joanna of Naples, although there was 
sufficient reason for her appearance here, since 
she was Countess of Provence. 

Some eighteen miles to the north of Nice, 
near the little village of Coaraze, are to be found 
the ruins of the Castle of Rocca-Sparviera (" The 
Hawk's Rock "). It was in this Castle, hidden 
among the mountains, that Joanna, Queen of 
Naples, when she was driven from her kingdom 
and pursued by her brother-in-law, Louis of 
Hungary, took refuge, in the year 1348, with her 
little twin children, her old nurse, and her 
chaplain, Don Pancrazio. The latter regretted 
Naples, and consoled himself in his exile by 
making a minute study of the different vintages 
in the neighbourhood ; so that he was nearly 
always in a state of semi-inebriety, between the 
vintage of Falicon and that of Bellet — which 



64 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

he preferred to all others. Don Pancrazio was 
of a talkative nature, especially after a bottle of 
wine, and the people of Coaraze soon learnt 
that Queen Joanna had already become a 
widow when she was eighteen. Her first husband 
was Andrew of Hungary, to whom she had been 
betrothed at the tender age of seven. There was 
a vast difference of temperament between the 
two, for Andrew was as ugly, cold, and sulky 
as Joanna was pretty, voluptuous, and gay. 
It is undeniable that her premature widowhood 
was the work of the Queen's lover, Louis of 
Tarentum, who afterwards married her. As a 
result, Louis of Hungary straightway marched 
on Naples to avenge the death of his brother, 
and the Neapolitans abandoned their Queen, 
and refused to support her until she should 
receive absolution from the Pope for the crime 
which they laid at her door. So Joanna embarked 
for Marseilles, with her two children, her old 
nurse (Dame Peppina), her chaplain, and ten 
faithful, trusty servants. She was on her way 
to Avignon, to throw herself at the feet of Pope 
Clement VI ; but as she was ascending the Rhone 
she imagined she detected some spies of her 
brother-in-law among a company of merchants 
who were betaking themselves to the great 
Fair of Beaucaire ; then, at Avignon itself, as 



TALE OF QUEEN JOANNA 65 

she was crossing the famous bridge of Saint 
Benezet, she was recognized and abused by 
some fisher-folk. Frightened to death, she 
hastily fled from the town of the Popes without 
having seen Clement VI, for she knew that Louis 
of Hungary specially desired to wreak vengeance 
on her twin children, whom he considered the 
fruit of her adultery ; and for three months she 
wandered from castle to castle, to avoid the 
watchfulness of her enemies, and to try and save 
her babies. This unhappy Queen, who was not 
afraid of running the greatest dangers, nor of 
sacrificing a crown to defend her children, soon 
gained the sympathy of all mothers, says the 
old chronicler. 

So Joanna, watching constantly over the twins, 
left the Castle but rarely ; Don Pancrazio, who 
was not troubled with the same solicitude, took 
his walks abroad freely, and made friends with 
the rustics in the neighbourhood. Among these 
were certain cattle merchants, recently arrived 
from Piedmont, and quite unknown in the 
country-side. They appeared to have plenty 
of money at their disposal, and were great 
drinkers, and a glass of excellent wine, which 
recalled his favourite vintages of Posilippo, was 
always at the disposal of the chaplain. 

On Christmas Eve Joanna sent for her chaplain 



66 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

in the afternoon to arrange about the midnight 
service. Unfortunately, Don Pancrazio had 
begun rather too early in the day to fete the 
Birth of Our Lord, in his own fashion, and the 
Queen, seeing that he was in no condition to 
celebrate the Holy Sacrifice, decided to go 
and hear Mass at Coaraze, despite the cold of 
the night and the dangers of the road. So, 
having commended her darlings to her nurse 
and to the chaplain, Queen Joanna locked the 
gate of the Castle, put the big key in her pocket, 
and started off on horseback, with four men 
bearing torches to light up the rocky path. 
§^On arriving at the door of the church she 
heard a voice singing : 

" La regina va a la messa ! 
Cora ven trovera taoula messa ! " 

(" The Queen goes to Mass, she will find the table 
set when she gets home.") 

The couplet troubled her, but she thought 
it could not possibly be meant for her, an exile 
in this Hawk's Nest ! Why should the table be 
set when she returned, and with whom should 
she sup, poor forsaken soul ? She prayed long 
before the Infant Christ, beseeching Him to 
protect her children. 

After her mistress had left Peppina settled 



TALE OF QUEEN JOANNA 67 

herself in the children's room, and drawing up a 
chair to the big fire-place where the Yule log was 
burning, she soon fell asleep over her beads. Don 
Pancrazio, who hated being alone, went down to 
the cellar to fetch a bottle of old wine to keep him 
company until the Queen returned. All of a 
sudden he heard his name called, and looking 
out of the window, found his new friends the 
cattle merchants, who came to suggest to him 
to pass Christmas Eve with them, as all 
good Christians should, in prayer first and re- 
joicing afterwards ; for this purpose they had 
brought a skin of Sicilian wine, as fiery as the 
volcano on which the vine had grown which 
produced it. 

The chaplain had not the heart to refuse a 
suggestion so much in accordance with his 
desires. Unluckily the bars of the cellar were 
solid, and all the gates of the Castle were closed 
and guarded ; however, by a providential piece 
of luck, the merchants found a ladder, which 
enabled them to get into the castle by a window. 
So the evening began with psalm-singing, but 
drinking songs soon got mixed up with it, as 
Don Pancrazio emptied glass after glass, while 
his companions merely dipped their big mous- 
taches into the draught, which contained a 
strong narcotic. 



68 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

As the Queen left the church at the end of 
Mass she again heard a voice call out with a 
strong Neapolitan accent : 

" Cora ven trovera taoula messa ! " 

Frightened out of her wits, she jumped on 
her palfrey and galloped up the mountain-side 
to the brilliantly lit castle. She opened the big 
gate and rushed to her children's room, calling, 
" Peppina, Peppina," but the nurse had dis- 
appeared and the cradle was empty ; she then 
ran frantically to the great hall, where she 
saw Don Pancrazio fast asleep, and on the table 
in front of him a great dish strewn with herbs, 
on which lay her two children, with hunting knives 
driven through their hearts. At daybreak Dame 
Peppina, who had succeeded in freeing herself 
from her bonds, rushed up from the cellar, and 
found her unfortunate mistress stretched on the 
floor without sign of life. 

Next morning, as a few of the villagers were 
climbing to Rocca Sparviera for the Christmas 
Mass, they saw tongues of flame suddenly 
shooting through the roof of the Castle ; and on 
the keep appeared the figure of the unfortunate 
Queen, half clothed, with her hair flying in the 
wind, and they heard her voice crying, above 
the crackling of the fire : 



TALE OF QUEEN JOANNA 69 

" O rocca rocchina, 
Un giou vendra 
Que aissi non cantara 
Plus ni gal ni gallina ! " * 

Legend tells us that Joanna threw herself 
into the furnace, which consumed her body 
and those of her two children ; but we need not 
waste too much pity on the victims, for history 
reveals that Queen Joanna regained possession 
of her throne, and spent a very merry time at 
Naples, where she held her Court for more than 
thirty years, and where she welcomed all the 
great writers of Italy of that age — notably 
Boccaccio, who wrote the " Decameron " for her. 
Her fate was none the less a tragic one in the end, 
as she was suffocated between two mattresses 
by her cousin and adopted son, Charles Durazzo, 
whom she had brought up. 

The more probable ending of the story is, that 
Joanna left the Chateau early next day, sur- 
rounded by her retinue, after setting fire to the 
Castle, where lay the corpses of her children, 
and the still intoxicated Don Pancrazio, who was 
naturally never heard of again. 

After the death of this much harried Queen 

* O rugged rock, 
The day shall come 
When here shall crow 
Nor cock nor heu ! 



70 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

in 1382, Louis of Anjou, whom she had adopted, 
tried to exclude Charles Durazzo from the 
kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and from the County 
of Provence. Nice rallied to the side of Charles, 
and after his death, in 1386, supported his son, 
Ladislas, who was still a minor. Provence, 
divided between the two claimants, was a prey 
to civil war. Nice, enfeebled by a long resistance, 
was on the eve of falling into the hands of Louis 
of Anjou, and sent a message to Ladislas — who 
was then at Gaeta — to point out to him their 
urgent need of immediate help ; but the Gri- 
maldi, who were the most influential people in 
the country, appealed to Amadeus VII (the Red), 
Count of Savoy, and Nice, by a deed drawn up 
on September 28th, 1388, passed to the House 
of Savoy, which retained its protectorate up 
to 1792. 

During the reign of Amadeus VIII illustrious 
strangers visited Nice. One of these was Benedict 
XIII, the rival of Pope Gregory XII. He held 
Court here, making the place gay and busy, 
a sort of Rome in miniature. With a view to a 
meeting with the Pontiff, and in the hope of 
healing the divisions in the Church, the Emperor 
Sigismund was attracted to the city. He came 
in great state, escorted by a thousand cavalry 
and eight hundred private gentlemen, with many 



AMADEUS VIII ELECTED POPE 71 

Cardinals. Frederick of Aragon and the Count of 
Savoy were in the Imperial train. The latter 
was certainly born under a lucky star. All 
circumstances turned in his favour. Even this 
visit, failing in its chief object, through the 
non-attendance of the Pope, resulted to his 
advantage ; for the Emperor, gratified by his 
zeal, as well as impressed by his talents, raised 
his Countship to a Dukedom, and conferred on 
him the title of Imperial Vicar, or representative 
in Italy. The culminating point of his glory 
was reached when, in 1440, the Council of Bale 
elected him Pope, under the name of Felix V. 
He occupied the Papal Chair for nine years, 
and then retired to Ripaglia, where he died in 
1451. 



CHAPTER IV 

The Congress of Nice— Pope Paul III, Francis I, and Charles V — 
Mediaeval history — Sieges of Nice — The Chateau and its destruc- 
tion by the Duke of Berwick — Nice under the Terror — Napoleon's 
visits — Pope Pius VII and the Queen of Etruria — Napoleon and 
the Prince of Monaco — Nice finally becomes French. 

THE sixteenth century was a stirring time 
for Nice, and several great historical events 
took place within its walls in which the greatest 
and most prominent potentates of the age 
figured. We learn from the works of J. B. 
Toselli, and of GiofTredo, that, in the year 1538, 
Francis I had invaded the County of Nice, to the 
great detriment of Duke Charles III of Savoy, 
who was in alliance with the Emperor Charles V. 
The Emperor, on being appealed to, immediately 
took steps to occupy the rest of the Duke's 
dominions, under the pretext of a guarantee, 
and marched against the King of France. Paul 
III (Alexander Farnese, formerly Bishop of 
Vence), who was Pope at that time, to pre- 
vent war, and to put an end to the critical 
position of the Duke, proposed a Conference 
between the two Sovereigns, and Nice was chosen 
as the place of meeting ; whereupon the Pontiff 

72 



POPE PAUL III 73 

required that while the Conference was sitting 
the town and citadel should be confided to his 
charge alone. 

The Duke replied that he would do his best 
to contribute to the work of peace which the 
Pope was pursuing, but before handing over 
the Castle he was waiting for the answer of 
Francis I, to whom he had referred the matter. 
This answer led to long negotiations. On May 9th 
1538, Charles V entered Villefranche harbour 
with twenty-eight galleys, bringing a great 
number of important people, and three thousand 
infantry as his guard. A story is told of the 
Emperor's arrival in the neighbourhood, which 
is probably apocryphal, as the scene of it is 
laid near La Mortola. It is said that his retinue 
stopped short when nearing their journey's end, 
and on Charles riding up to enquire the cause, he 
was informed that some stones had fallen from 
a tower on to the road, and that the soldiers 
thought it was a bad omen. " March on at 
once," he said. " Do you not see that the very 
stones do me homage ? " 

Immediately after the Emperor's arrival at 
Villefranche, he sent fifteen galleys to fetch the 
Holy Father, who was waiting at Savona. On 
the 14th he sent again to require the Duke 
of Savoy to give over possession of the fortress 



74 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of the Chateau to the Pope, for the thirty or 
forty days which the Conference was likely to 
last. The Duke, who had received several 
messages from the King of France advising 
him not to hand over the Castle to any one, 
replied firmly that as he was occupying it him- 
self, he was unable to accede to the request. 
The wily Pontiff intended to get hold of the 
Chateau to hand it over to Charles V, but 
luckily the people of Nice were on the look-out, 
and frustrated every move made by the Pope. 
First he petitioned to be allowed to lodge there, 
then, seeming to yield on refusal, he attempted 
to get possession of the place by stratagem. He 
begged that some of his servants might be per- 
mitted to enter the Chateau with his baggage. 
The Governor, examining the baggage, discovered 
to his indignation that, instead of sacerdotal 
robes and vestments, it consisted of swords, 
pikes, pistols, and other weapons. Thereupon he 
ordered the drawbridge to be raised, and the 
Papal servitors to be driven off. The Pope next 
tried force, sending a number of armed men 
under the command of his kinsman, Prince 
Farnese, against the citadel. This led to a 
riot with the populace, which effectually put 
an end to the interested pretensions of His 
Holiness. 



POPE PAUL III 75 

The Emperor was naturally much put out 
with the Duke and the people of Nice for the 
turn which matters had taken, and he dismissed 
the former very unceremoniously when he went 
to see him at Villefranche. The Pope disem- 
barked at Nice on May 17th, on the spot where 
is now the Rue du Congres ; he lodged at the 
Monastery of the Holy Cross of the Brothers of 
the Observance. The Duke immediately sent 
Jean Badat, the First Syndic, to offer him, in 
the name of the people, a residence in the town, 
with nine hundred soldiers — all of them Nicois — 
for his guard. The Pope replied coldly that he 
was very well lodged where he was, thus showing 
his rancour at having been unable to make 
himself master of the impregnable fortress of the 
Chateau. 

Francis I arrived on the last day of May at the 
Chateau of Villeneuve, with his wife, Eleanore 
(the Emperor's sister), the Dauphin Henri, 
Charles, Duke of Orleans, Princess Marguerite, 
and a large suite of nobles. The King of France 
was accompanied by six thousand infantry 
and sixteen hundred cavalry ; he had a lodging 
prepared in the Beaumettes quarter, at the 
Torre de Capean, so as to be able to have an 
interview there with the Holy Father. Their 
first meeting took place in this temporary 



76 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

residence, on June 2nd, with a good deal of 
pomp, and a considerable display of force on 
both sides. Francis I bestrode a magnificent 
horse with trappings of blue velvet embroidered 
with gold. He was clothed in blue velvet, 
with embroidered ruffles, and buttons of gold 
set with precious stones ; he wore a cap with a 
blue feather, and a plume of the same colour 
adorned the head of his horse, which pranced 
about to the admiration of all the people, who 
praised the clever horsemanship exhibited by 
Francis. 

The King's interview with Paul III lasted 
more than four hours. Duke Charles of Savoy 
was not present at it, and the Emperor remained 
at Villefranche. These two monarchs mistrusted 
each other to such an extent that, when they 
came to visit the Pope, they were always sur- 
rounded with troops, which caused Paul to 
remark, " I nostri August! anno paura " (" The 
Princes are afraid "). Shortly afterwards Francis 
had a second interview with Paul III, at the 
mill on the Var, but nothing resulted from 
it. The negotiations dragged on, and on June 5th 
the Constable of France (the Comte de Saint 
Paul) and many French lords paid a visit to 
the Duke. On the 8th Queen Eleanore and 
the Princess Marguerite met the Pope at his 



POPE PAUL III 77 

lodgings. On the 9th the Pope had an inter- 
view with the Emperor ; on the 11th the 
Duke informed the latter of the proposals of 
the King of France ; on the 12th Queen Eleanore 
and Princess Marguerite went by sea to pay a 
visit to the Emperor. As they passed before the 
town the Chateau saluted their ships with 
twenty-one guns, and the Emperor's galleys 
paid them the same honours when they entered 
Villefranche harbour. 

This visit was marked by an accident which, 
fortunately, had no serious result. The Emperor 
had had a very luxurious pavilion erected on the 
beach, from which a bridge of boats communi- 
cated with the galley of Prince Doria (who was 
in command of the Imperial fleet), on board of 
which the Emperor was staying. The Queen of 
France and Princess Marguerite had to cross 
this bridge to visit the Emperor ; they were 
followed by a numerous cortege of ladies-in- 
waiting, courtiers, and pages. The bridge could 
not support the weight of so great a number of 
people ; it gave way, and every one was thrown 
into the sea. The sailors jumped into the water, 
and managed to get them all safe to shore. 
So Queen, Princess, and ladies-in-waiting got 
off with a ducking. 

The conferences continued without hope of sue- 



78 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

cess. Paul III realized that he could not heal the 
enmity which existed between the two monarchs, 
so he wisely abandoned the futile project of 
making a treaty of peace, and proposed as an 
expedient " The Ten Years' Truce." The two 
Sovereigns were weary of war, and gave their 
consent, and on June 18th, 1538, the Armistice 
was signed by the Emperor at Villefranche, 
and by the King of France at the Chateau of 
Cagnes. They exacted that, during the period 
of its operation, the Duke of Savoy should add 
no fresh fortifications to the Castle of Nice. 
This was the end of the famous Congress of 
Nice. 

The Pope, before leaving, made a present of a 
magnificent silver cross adorned with his arms 
to the monastery where he had lodged. He 
embarked from the beach at the spot where the 
Consuls of the town of Nice afterwards erected 
the Croix de Marbre (which still exists there), in 
memory of his sojourn. 

Notwithstanding this truce, five years later, in 
1543, the Turks sent a fleet of three hundred 
vessels under the command of Barbarossa, and 
a French army easily occupied the town ; 
while the Castle itself was almost captured by an 
assault of the Turks, who were only repulsed in 
their attack on the bastion of Sincai're, thanks 




\ --,5/ **, -v ;. •■ . *u <■ 



m ^ea 



MEDLEVAL HISTORY 79 

to the intervention of a washerwoman, Catherine 
Segurane, called La Maufaccia on account of her 
extremely plain features, whose courage restored 
the ardour of the defenders : of her more later 
on. The allied forces raised the siege, but the 
Turks, apart from a quantity of booty, carried 
off five thousand two hundred of the citizens as 
prisoners, whose captivity, however, was fortu- 
nately not a long one, for the squadron of the 
Knights of Malta, and that of Naples, met the 
Turkish fleet, and forced its Admiral to restore 
the prisoners to liberty. 

After this eventful siege numerous fresh 
fortifications were built. Hitherto much had 
been lacking for the defence of the town, and 
until the fifteenth century it had not been 
fortified to any great extent ; but at that epoch 
great works were carried out, and early in the 
sixteenth century its Castle had become a 
redoubtable stronghold. To make it so, not 
only were a large number of houses demolished, 
but the Cathedral church dedicated to the 
Blessed Virgin Mary (Notre Dame de la Platea), 
which was situated in the middle of the upper 
town, was sacrificed, and a new Cathedral dedi- 
cated to Saint Reparate was founded in the 
lower town, at the foot of the rock. The city 
was thus split into two parts, and while the 



80 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Castle was very strong, the lower town was at 
the mercy of any invader who came, as has just 
been shown. The citadel was now erected on 
the north of the plateau, and this lower town was 
surrounded with bastions and towers ; Nice was 
then considered an impregnable stronghold. 

The wars which devastated Europe during the 
seventeenth century always found the city 
ready to defend itself. Attempts made by the 
Spaniards in 1616, and by the French in 1617, 
to get possession of the town and Castle were 
doomed to failure. The renown of becoming 
master of the Chateau of Nice was reserved to 
Marechal de Catinat, whose attack on the town 
is related in a manuscript written in a mixture 
of Nicois and Italian, which has recently been 
translated by General Toselli, and put into 
French by Monsieur Alphonse Navello. From 
this we learn that in the middle of March, 1691, 
the French Army, under de Catinat, attacked 
the forts at Villefranche and Saint Hospice, 
which surrendered after two days' bombardment. 
The French then turned their attention to the 
fort on Mont Alban, and this capitulated 
as soon as the first shots were fired, not with- 
out a suspicion that the commander, Saint 
Armand, had been corrupted with a heavy bribe 
to do so. 



SIEGES OF NICE 81 

Marechal de Catinat then sent an officer to 
Nice to summon the town to surrender within 
three days, failing which it would be bombarded 
without further delay. After the first round of the 
bombardment it would have to pay the sum of 
sixty thousand francs, after the second it would be 
obliged to hand over all the bells and metal 
which could be melted down, and finally, if it 
should be necessary to fire a third round, all the 
inhabitants would be put to the sword. On 
receipt of this terrifying summons two gentlemen 
were sent to beg Marechal de Catinat, who 
was quartered at the monastery at Cimiez, to 
extend the time until eleven o'clock, so that the 
Council General might meet, a request which 
was granted. The Council met forthwith in the 
Cathedral, and after a lengthy examination of 
the situation, came to the conclusion that it was 
impossible for the town to offer any resistance, 
as provisions were scarce and the garrison in- 
adequate, and that it would speedily be reduced 
to ashes by the fire of the enemy ; so it was 
decided to capitulate. The act of surrender 
was publicly read to the people in the Cathedral, 
and it was notified that the town would continue 
to enjoy the same privileges as under the Dukes 
of Savoy. The capitulation was signed and 



82 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

conveyed to the French commander at Cimiez, 
who immediately ratified it. 

The French troops entered the town in the 
night of March 26th, and having taken all their 
dispositions, three days later they opened fire 
on the Chateau. The following day, at eleven 
o'clock at night, a shell fell on the powder 
magazine in the keep of the Castle, which blew 
up with such a noise that it seemed as if the 
whole town of Nice was blown to pieces. The 
report is said to have been heard at a distance 
of thirty miles. This disaster caused the death 
of a large number of soldiers, as well as of many 
private persons who had fled there for refuge. 
It is stated that more than nine hundred people 
perished in this catastrophe, in addition to the 
numerous French soldiers who were killed or 
wounded at the palisades. On the 31st of the 
same month another powder magazine was 
blown up, and in consequence of this double 
disaster scarcely a single gun remained which 
could be fired. Two days later, on April 2nd, 
the Comte de Frussasque, Governor of the 
Castle, capitulated. 

The Chateau was besieged for the last time in 
1706, by a French army under the command of 
the Duke of Berwick, and was captured and 
entirely destroyed. This great leader, though a 



THE CHATEAU 83 

Marshal of France, was an Englishman of the 
Blood Royal, being a natural son of the Duke 
of York, afterwards King James II. He was 
born in 1670, and died in 1734. His first lessons 
in warfare were learnt in Hungary, where he 
was present at the siege of Buda-Pesth, when 
only sixteen years of age. After the Revolution 
of 1688 he took a very active part in the various 
schemes which were set on foot with a view to the 
restoration of his father to the throne of England. 
When he at length realized that the Royal cause 
was lost he became a naturalized Frenchman, 
and served under Luxembourg and Villeroi, 
speedily developing great military talents. In 
1704 Louis XIV gave him the command of the 
French troops in Spain, and in the following 
year sent him against the Camisards of Langue- 
doc. He became a Marshal of France in 1706, 
and it was in this year that he won the glory 
of the capture of the citadel of Nice. This feat 
of arms had a great bearing on the future of the 
city, for although the Peace of Utrecht restored 
its tranquillity to Nice, it ceased to be a military 
town in the sense of making history. 

The French Revolution of 1789 not unnaturally 
aii^cted Nice from a variety of reasons, and 
ended by making it a part of France, which it 
remained until detached in 1814 by the treaties 



84 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of the Holy Alliance. When the Terror spread 
over France many Frenchmen took refuge in 
Nice, among them being a great number of 
priests. Steinbruck tells us that, on Holy 
Thursday in the year 1792, three hundred cures 
and four Bishops took part in the services of the 
Cathedral. In the Corpus Christi procession, 
which was held on the first Sunday in June, 
more than six hundred French priests and seven 
French Bishops were present. 

The news which arrived from France, the same 
chronicler continues, kept the town in an in- 
cessant state of turmoil, and religious and anti- 
religious manifestations took place daily. Finally, 
on September 29th, the Sardinian troops which 
garrisoned Nice were ordered to withdraw into 
the mountainous districts inland. This grave 
step alarmed the emigres, who fled in haste, 
as did most of the chief families of the town. 
Nice was given up to the fury of an unrestrained 
and undisciplined populace, who pillaged and 
looted the city. A deputation of the citizens, 
headed by the Bishop of Nice (Monseigneur 
Valperga), was sent to Antibes to beg General 
Anselme to put a stop to the disorders of the 
mob. French troops entered Nice, and public 
worship ceased in the Cathedral, as all the 
priests had fled. The church of Saint Dominic 



NAPOLEON'S VISITS 85 

was turned into a club, and the Royal Palace 
(now the Prefecture) was sacked, all the furniture 
being thrown out of the windows and the 
archives destroyed. Monks and nuns were all 
turned out of their monasteries and convents, 
and one church after another was closed ; the 
precious archives of the Abbey of Saint Pons 
were burnt, and Nice was given up to the 
most complete anarchy. The Cathedral was 
closed in July, 1794, and the pompous inscrip- 
tion, " Temple of Reason," was painted on its 
doors. It was in this year that Napoleon 
Bonaparte first came to Nice. He was then 
General of Brigade and Commandant of the 
artillery of the army of Italy. He arrived at 
Nice towards the end of March, with his brother 
Louis, his aide-de-camp Junot, and the brother 
of Robespierre, who had been appointed Praefect 
of Nice. He was billeted at the house of Comte 
Joseph Laurenti, on the old road to Villefranche, 
who received the future Emperor very cordially. 
Here Bonaparte lived for many months, occupy- 
ing himself solely with his military duties, 
and apparently taking no part in politics. It 
is said that he evinced great affection for a negro 
servant whom he had brought with him, and 
who was taken ill and died during his master's 
stay in Nice. The fall of Robespierre, on the 



86 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

9th of Thermidor, brought about Bonaparte's 
disgrace, as he was suspected of being one of his 
partisans, and he was arrested in his host's 
house and interned in the fort at Antibes, where 
he remained in the custody of a couple of gen- 
darmes for two months, at the end of which 
time he was released through the influence of 
his friends in Paris. Comte Laurenti is said 
to have made himself answerable for his prisoner 
in order that the latter might be allowed to 
walk in the garden. Bonaparte left at once 
for the capital, but he did not forget to leave a 
fowling-piece for the Comte as a souvenir of his 
gratitude. Still, apparently he did not like the 
reminiscence of this part of his career, as he 
always afterwards treated with coldness all 
Nicois who had any official business with him, 
his friend Massena, " 1' Enfant cheri de la vic- 
toire," alone excepted. 

Just two years later Bonaparte came to Nice 
as commander-in-chief of the army of Italy, 
which, from want of pay, clothing, and provisions, 
was at this moment in a complete state of dis- 
organization. Two regiments went so far as to 
mutiny on the Place Victor (now the Place Gari- 
baldi) as they were marching out of the town, 
but one of Bonaparte's forcible and pithy 
harangues speedily brought them back to their 



POPE PIUS VII 87 

obedience. After waiting to see all the troops 
off, he found time to return to his former lodgings, 
where he embraced Comte Laurenti, and bade 
him good-bye. The endeavours made by some 
writers to fasten a charge of ingratitude on him 
in this connection are not worthy of serious 
notice. They represent Napoleon as exhibiting 
the basest want of gratitude to a man who had 
been the means of saving him when his life 
might have been sacrificed, and assert that from 
the day he left his prison at Antibes he never 
troubled himself at any future time either to 
thank his benefactor — to whose efforts his free- 
dom was due — or to make him the slightest 
return for his friendship. This is disproved not 
only by the fact just quoted, but by subsequent 
events, although it is doubtful whether the two 
ever met again. 

There is little else to record specially connected 
with Nice during the reign of Napoleon. Many 
of the great generals of France visited the city, 
and other distinguished personages resided in it. 
The Villa Carlone, in the Rue de France, was at 
one time the scene of the captivity of the Queen 
of Etruria. Here she was living when Pope 
Pius VII, himself a prisoner, was being con- 
ducted to Savona. He was brought from Rome 
to Grenoble, and thence through the South of 



88 THE EOMANCE OF NICE 

France, and was to pass through Nice on his 
way. Arrived at the bridge over the Var, 
he was met by an immense crowd of Nicois, 
with the Queen of Etruria at their head. Ac- 
cording to the description given by Nash, Marie 
Louise fell on her knees before the Holy Father, 
kissed his feet, and testified by her tears — for 
her emotion was too great for utterance — her 
sympathy with his pitiable condition. The 
Pope's three days' sojourn in the city was a con- 
tinuous triumph for him, for every class of 
citizen visited him, and multitudes surrounded 
his lodgings, imploring his benediction. The 
Holy Father was greatly comforted by these 
demonstrations of respect, taking them not for 
himself personally, but for the religion of which 
he was the head and representative. The 
Queen of Etruria was accorded two lengthy 
audiences, at the latter of which the Pope would 
have given her a souvenir of the occasion, but 
he was reduced to such a state of poverty as to 
have nothing suitable to offer ; cutting, how- 
ever, the button from his cap, he presented 
it to her, and begged her to keep it for his 
sake. 

Pius VII passed through Nice again in 1814, 
and this passage was a more joyous one than the 
former, as he was now returning from captivity, 



NAPOLEON 89 

instead of going to prison. The Princess Pauline 
Borghese, sister of Napoleon, who was then 
living in the city, as well as all the authorities, 
paid their respects to the Sovereign Pontiff, 
while the people received him as before with 
unbounded enthusiasm. He never forgot the 
treatment which he received here, and alluded 
to it with pleasure on many subsequent occa- 
sions. He even had his portrait painted, which 
he presented to the citizens, and it hung for 
many years afterwards in the old Hotel de Ville. 
The people on their side, desirous of perpetuating 
the memory of two such interesting visits, 
erected the marble column standing before the 
Palais Marie Christine, in the Rue de France, 
directly facing the Croix de Marbre, which com- 
memorates the presence in Nice at an earlier 
day of Pope Paul III, of the Emperor Charles V, 
and of King Francis I of France. 

There is one other monument of Napoleonic 
history in the country, namely the column set 
up close to the shore at Golfe Juan, between 
Cannes and Antibes, to mark the spot where 
the Emperor landed from Elba on March 1st, 
1815, and began that extraordinary triumphal 
march across France, which ended in the Tui- 
leries, and the brief splendours of the Hundred 
Days, ere the clouds of exile finally closed round 



90 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

his head. It is recorded that, as Napoleon landed, 
the Prince of Monaco, who had just been re- 
instated in his principality by the consent of 
Europe, was travelling there post-haste to take 
possession of his throne. He was met by the 
Emperor's soldiers, and arrested by order of 
Cambronne, who wished to seize his horses. 
Napoleon, however, on being informed of the 
occurrence, gave orders to allow the Prince to 
proceed, but before continuing his journey he 
was to have an interview with the Emperor, 
whom he found on the seashore in rather an 
irritable mood. " Ou allez-vous ? " asked Napo- 
leon. " Chez moi," was the equally curt reply. 
" Dame ! et moi aussi," retorted the first speaker, 
and he turned his back on the traveller. An- 
other account of this interview states that 
Napoleon urged the Prince to return to Paris 
with him, offering to send him back to Monaco 
later on, if he still desired to go, as Sous- 
Prefet ! 

From 1814 Nice was once more united to the 
fortunes of the House of Savoy, and so it re- 
mained for close on half a century, when the 
political developments of the times brought 
about its return to France, under Napoleon III. 
The treaty made on March 24th, 1860, by which 
the Kings of Sardinia renounced their protectorate 



NICE FINALLY BECOMES FRENCH 91 

over the town and County of Nice, was ratified 
by a popular vote of the inhabitants on June 14th 
in the same year, when 25,773 voted for the 
annexation, against 160 who opposed it, out of 
30,702 voters. 



CHAPTER V 

Matrimonial alliances of the House of Savoy — Some letters of a 
Queen of Spain — The worthies of Nice — Catherine Se'gurane — The 
painter, Vanloo — The astronomer, Cassini. 

FROM early times the Sovereign Princes of 
Savoy saw fit to consolidate their position 
by means of matrimonial alliances with their 
more powerful neighbours, which on more than 
one occasion proved most beneficial at critical 
moments. We read that the Princess Margaret of 
Savoy, daughter of Duke Amadeus VIII (after- 
wards Pope Felix V), was married by proxy to 
Louis III of Anjou, King of the Two Sicilies 
and of Jerusalem, and Count of Provence, 
and that she embarked at Villefranche on 
December 11th, 1434, on the Neapolitan galley 
sent to take her to her kingdom. 

Nearly three centuries later a similar marriage 
took place, and of this we have some very 
interesting details from the pen of the young 
Princess herself, contained in a series of letters 
to her mother, which not only give us a vivid 
picture of the times, but also throw a pleasant 
light on the character and talents of their writer, 

92 



MATRIMONIAL ALLIANCES 93 

who, although only a child at the date of her 
marriage, yet lived to leave a certain mark in 
history, and who secured for herself a very warm 
place in the hearts of her adopted people. 

Among the many Princesses who have shared 
the throne as Queens-Consort of Spain there 
is no more charming and sympathetic figure 
than this of Marie Louise Gabrielle of Savoy, 
wife of Philip V. This little Princess was the 
second daughter of Victor-Amadeus II, Duke of 
Savoy, and of his Duchess, Anne of Orleans. 
She was born on September 22nd, 1688, and was 
married by proxy at Turin on September 11th, 
1701, when she had not completed her thirteenth 
year, to His Majesty Philip V of Spain, then 
aged close on eighteen. Her grandmother, 
known as Madame Royale — for she had acted as 
Regent during the minority of Victor-Amadeus II 
— was the Princess Jeanne-Baptiste of Nemours, 
an ambitious and far-seeing woman, who had 
anticipated for her granddaughters the possi- 
bility of Royal marriages. The elder of the two 
was already the wife of the Duke of Burgundy, 
grandson of Louis XIV, and heir to the throne of 
France. 

From her earliest years Marie Louise was 
confided to the care of the Comtesse Francoise de 
Lucinge, a lady of exceptional talent, who was 



94 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

enabled to develop the good feelings and intelli- 
gence of the little Princess by the careful educa- 
tion she bestowed upon her, and to whom much 
of the credit must be given for the wisdom and 
tact displayed by the Princess in her later life. 
Her wedding at such an early age was, of course, 
merely a question of high politics. Philip V 
was anxious to keep on good terms with the Duke 
of Savoy, and so — with the consent of the King 
of France — asked the hand of his younger 
daughter in marriage. This was willingly ac- 
corded, the more so as it affirmed the eventual 
right of succession which Victor-Amadeus had 
acquired under the will of Charles II. 

The marriage was celebrated by proxy with 
considerable pomp at Turin, and on the following- 
day, September 12th, 1701, the little Queen 
Marie Louise started for Nice, where she was to 
find the combined fleet of Spain, France, and 
Naples, under the command of Don Emmanuel 
Sylva, awaiting her, either at Villefranche or 
Monaco, to take her to Barcelona. The rate of 
progress was slow, for on the 17th the Queen 
had only reached Sospello, where she rested all 
day at the house of the Baron Blancardi de la 
Turbie, and received with the greatest affability 
a present offered to her by the Syndics in the 
name of the town. On the previous night the 



LETTERS OF A QUEEN 95 

cortege had slept at Tenda, Her Majesty being 
lodged by the Chianea family. From here the 
girl Queen wrote the first of that touching little 
series of letters to which reference has already 
been made, which have been taken from the 
Royal Archives at Turin. 

From Tenda Marie Louise wrote as follows 
to her grandmother, Madame Royale : 

" Tenda, 
" September 16th. 
" I am quite sure, dearest grandmamma, 
of the grief you have felt at our parting, from 
the kindness which you have always shown to 
me. I entreat you not to address me as ' Your 
Majesty,' for the name of your dear grandchild 
is much more to my taste. It is not necessary 
to remind me to keep my affection for you, 
dearest grandmamma, for that is very great, 
and imbued with the greatest respect. ..." 

The next day the first letter to her mother 

was dispatched, as soon as she arrived at Sospello ; 

the gorges which so depressed the little Queen 

must have been those of Fontan and Saorgio, in 

the valley of the Roya. 

" Sospello, 

" September 17th. 
" I am very glad, dearest mother, that 
Madame Cavalieri forgot my box, since it has 
given me the pleasure of receiving your dear 



96 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

letters. Carlino arrived this morning just as we 
were coming out of church, and gave me news 
of you which pleased me, since it was good. I 
forgot to tell you, in my last letter, that we slept 
at Tenda. I made the Baroness Pallavicini, 
Madame de Cirie, and the Marquis de Sales 
play at ombre, and I kept coming and going, 
and took Madame de Cirie's hand to make her 
learn. Instead of dining, I had some tea, as I 
had a headache, and after that we went to 
Benediction in the Cathedral, which is quite 
a fine church considering the size of the town. 
Just before supper Monsieur de Castel Rodrigue 
came to my room with the Marquis de Dronero, 
who told me they had not the regulations for 
my journey with them, and that they did not 
know at all what was arranged under the head of 
eating alone or with the ladies-in-waiting ; that 
they thought it possible I should eat by myself 
on the ship, and so it would be uncivil to the 
ladies not to sup with them, and that we could 
do so if we liked, so we began yesterday evening 
with great content. 

" We started this morning at the same time as 
yesterday, and arrived at Breil at eleven o'clock ; 
and set out again at three, for Sospello, where 
we have just arrived. We could not see the sea 
from the top of the hill, as the weather was 
cloudy. This morning we passed through a 
most gloomy country, for of a truth all these 
mountains and rocks are terrifying and frightful. 



LETTERS OF A QUEEN 97 

You compliment me, dear mother, on my high 
birth ; it is rather my duty to thank you for 
having brought me into the world. Yesterday 
evening Monsieur de Castel Rodrigue wanted to 
show us a Spanish compliment, to make us play 
at Quintillo — that is, a five-handed ombre — and 
was desirous of giving us gold counters that he 
has had made. But he could not do so, as we 
did not play. 

" My dear mother, there is a great sadness 
in my heart, very great, and chiefly at night 
when I wake up and find myself all alone ; I 
assure you, my dear mother, that I am indeed 
very sensible of the goodness you have shown 
to me, by the love which I feel for your dear 
self ; and I am very sorry I am not clever 
enough to express it better to you, as well as the 
reverence which I have for you, and which will 
be very great all my life." 

The arrival of Her Catholic Majesty at Nice 
on the next evening, September 18th, was a 
solemn affair, and is recorded by the chroniclers 
Torrini and Louis Durante. The former relates 
that the Queen's entrance was very splendid. 
As soon as she arrived at the Porte Pairoliere 
the guns of the Chateau fired a royal salute of one 
hundred and fifty guns, while the town batteries 
added a further welcome of twenty-four guns. 
The city was so brilliantly illuminated that it was 



98 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

like daylight. There was a great crowd in the 
Rue Droite, where the Queen passed, carried in 
a sedan-chair, with her ladies-in-waiting, and 
gentlemen on horseback ; and the windows were 
packed with people. On her arrival at the 
Palace the fisher-folk commenced their ball 
on the Grande Place, but the most attractive 
sight of all was that of the twelve galleys which 
were close in shore, in full view of the Palace, 
each brilliantly illuminated — especially the flag- 
ship, which fired a triple salute. The ships did 
not leave till after midnight, and the town gates 
remained open too. 

Durante adds a few details to this account. 
He says that Nice had never before presented such 
a sumptuous appearance. On the Queen's arrival, 
she was saluted by the booming of cannon, the 
ringing of all the church bells, and the unanimous 
acclamations of the populace. Her Majesty, 
who had travelled in a palanquin, descended at 
the Porte Pairoliere, where the Governor of the 
Senate, the High Steward, the Consuls, and all 
the principal persons of the city awaited her. 
A guard of honour, composed of the chief gentle- 
men of the town, was admitted to Her Majesty's 
presence, to serve as a bodyguard ; she was 
conducted to the Palace, in conformity with 
ancient custom, under a canopy ; the streets 



LETTERS OF A QUEEN 99 

traversed by the procession were garlanded 
and strewn with flowers, while the crowd of 
gentlemen in attendance, equerries and pages, 
showed a great variety of costumes and richness 
of apparel. 

On the following day, September 19th, the 
Queen went to hear Mass at the Cathedral of 
Saint Reparate, where she was received by the 
Consuls in their official robes, and the Bishop 
in his Pontifical vestments. During the ceremony 
an ode of homage to the Queen, composed by the 
Archpriest Ludovic Raiberti, was sung. In the 
evening the town was again illuminated as on the 
previous night, and the fish-wives had another 
ball, at which they sang a song in patois, com- 
posed by Canon Garino. 

On the 20th the Pope's Legate, Cardinal 
Giuseppe Archinto, Archbishop of Milan, sent 
by Clement XI to greet the new Queen-Consort 
of Spain, and to bear her the Golden Rose as a 
proof of His Holiness's affection, arrived at the 
Monastery of Saint Pons. His Eminence insisted 
on being received with all the honours due to his 
rank, but the Queen's suite, pretending to have 
received no orders, protracted the preliminary 
arrangements. The Duke of Savoy was not 
then on good terms with the Pope, and would 
have been delighted to do his Ambassador a 



100 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

bad turn ; so he put forward the suggestion 
that the Legate should be received by the 
Queen on Spanish territory, that is to say, on 
board His Catholic Majesty's galleys, either at 
Antibes, or at Monaco, but in any case, beyond 
the borders of his own States. Finally it was 
decided to receive His Eminence at Nice, 
and this was done somewhat summarily, as if 
it was desired to get rid of him as soon as 
possible. 

During this period of waiting the Queen found 
time to write to her mother a naive little letter, 
in which public and private matters are touched 
upon in a charmingly childish way. 

" Nice, 
" September 2Mh. 

" I am very happy, dear mother, for I 
received your dear letters to-day. The first 
days after my arrival the sea was quite calm, 
but yesterday and the day before it was very 
rough, which frightened us a little. 

"I do not mention the magnificence of the 
galleys, for Madame de Besteng will soon tell 
it you far better than I can, and indeed I have 
not yet seen them. My four ladies and Madame 
de Masserano went one morning to Villefranche 
to look at them, being afraid that if they waited 
they would be unable to see them at all. They 



LETTERS OF A QUEEN 101 

went by sea, and not one of them felt ill. Madame 
des Noyers went on the sea, but she only stayed 
a few moments, and did not feel ill either. 
Yesterday she wished to go again, but beginning 
to feel a little indisposed, she did not care to go 
further. Therese, who went, was ill, but it is 
true that the sea was not very smooth. 

" We thought up to this moment that I should 
receive the Legate at Monaco. Monsieur de 
Castel Rodrigue had already sent to tell the 
Prince of Monaco, who, I believe, is much 
annoyed to know now that the meeting will not 
take place there. The Legate is very pleased 
about it. I believe everything will be done to- 
morrow, and that we shall go on board on 
Monday. I thank you heartily, my dear 
mother, for your prayers to the Almighty 
for my health, which is very good at present, 
thank God. The mallows which I took had 
no effect, and did not prove efficacious, even 
once. 

" I gave your messages, my dear mother ; in 
fact, I went beyond your instructions, for I 
have also given your compliments to all my 
ladies, as I feared they might be hurt at 
your remembering Mesdames de Masserano, des 
Noyers, and de Besteng, and not mentioning 
them ; I do not think you will be annoyed with 
me. I shall always continue, as far as in me 
lies, to make myself loved by my behaviour, 
since that is pleasing to you, and also contributes 



102 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

to my happiness. I do not send any message 
to grandmamma, as I am going to write to 
her. 

" I will end by begging you to be so good as 
ever to continue your affection for me, which I 
will merit by the reverence and affection I have 
for your beloved and lovable person. I beg 
you to kiss my dear little brothers for me, and 
thank the elder one for what he has written. 
If I might venture, I would beg you, too, to 
give my remembrances to the Princess de la 
Cisterne, and to the Marquise Delmare. If I 
thought it would please them, I would write to 
them." 

On the 26th, matters having at length been 
arranged, the Cardinal-Legate left the Monastery 
of Saint Pons, whither the Marquis de Sales, 
one of the gentlemen-in-waiting, went to fetch 
him, with a brilliant following, and made his 
entry into the town in the afternoon of the same 
day, escorted by a company of halberdiers. 
He was accompanied by a great number of 
gentlemen and Italian Prelates, magnificently 
habited. The Bishop of Nice, at the head of his 
Chapter, went to meet the Legate beyond the 
Paillon bridge, and received him under a canopy 
of cloth of silver. After acknowledging the 
greetings of the Comte Maurice de Roubion, 
Introducer of Ambassadors, at the gates of the 



LETTERS OF A QUEEN 103 

Palace, he was met half-way up the staircase 
by the Comte de Balbian, the Queen's Major- 
domo, who conducted him to the guard-room ; 
after a few moments' rest here the Grand Master 
of the Household, the Marquis de Saint Georges, 
came to inform him that Her Majesty awaited 
him in the Throne Room. 

Marie Louise, in full Court dress, was seated 
on a dais hung with crimson velvet, fringed with 
gold ; she rose on the Cardinal's entrance, 
and made several steps forward, without, how- 
ever, descending from the dais. His Eminence 
expressed to the Queen how great was the 
satisfaction of His Holiness at a marriage which 
ought to consolidate a lasting peace between 
France, Spain, and the House of Savoy ; he 
then offered her the customary good wishes for 
her private happiness, and presented the Golden 
Rose. 

The Legate was reconducted, with the same 
honours as before, to the Palace of the Comte 
Lascaris, where he gave audience to the clergy, 
the nobility, and all the persons of eminence in 
the town. Three days later he started on his 
return journey to Milan, taking the road over the 
Col di Tenda, very well satisfied with the recep- 
tion which had been given to him. Marie Louise 
herself does not seem to have been greatly im- 



104 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

pressed by the Cardinal ; she wrote, the same 
evening, to her mother, the following very full 
account of his visits : 

" Nice, 
" September 26th. 

" I am writing you three letters to-day, 
my dearest mother, with very great pleasure. 
You will have news of me from Marseilles, 
for the Comte de Sales is coming as far as 
there. I must tell you that Madame la Princesse 
des Ursins x has evidently received instructions, 
for she has not yet been to see me ; so I shall 
see her to-morrow for the first time. I have 
just received, my dear mother, the three audiences 
of the Legate ; he made his entry this morning. 
He was habited in such a fashion that I could 
not keep from laughing. Madame of Besteng 
will tell you what he looked like. We went to the 
Bishop's Palace to see him pass ; he went straight 
to the Cathedral, where the Te Deum was sung, 

1 I have throughout these letters preserved the French orthography, 
though here the title of Princesse des Ursins would look more familiar 
if written "Orsini.'' This lady was, by birth, Marianne de la Tre- 
moille, whose first husband was the Prince de Talleyrand ; she married 
a second time, shortly after his death, her new lord being Prince 
Flavius Orsini, Due de Bracciano and San Gemini, a grandee of Spain, 
and a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, who at this time had 
been dead some two years. The King of Spain, on his marriage with 
the Princess Marie Louise, had appointed her to be chief lady-in- 
waiting to the new Queen, which caused much jealousy among the 
principal ladies of the Spanish nobility. Madame des Ursins played a 
prominent part at Court throughout the Queen's lifetime. 



LETTERS OF A QUEEN 105 

and then he came directly here : before five 
o'clock we had his second audience, and an hour 
later his last, when he gave me the Golden Rose, 
the Corpo Santo, and some Agnus Dei, and 
presented his suite : he is very pleased with this 
morning's dinner, and I think he will be equally 
contented with the supper this evening. He 
should have blessed the galleys this evening ; 
but as the sea is somewhat rough, they have not 
been able to come. Monsieur de Castel Rodrigue 
has given the present to Madame des Noyers 
for the Cardinal-Legate. I beg you, dear mother, 
if I ought to write some letters, to let me know, 
I mean, to what ladies you think it would give 
pleasure. I am sending the Corpo Santo to the 
Chapel of the Holy Shroud, as well as the 
Golden Rose. As to the Agnus Dei, I have made 
one box of them for Mother Mary of the Angels, 
and another for Father Valpe. I have written 
six letters this evening, and this is the seventh ; 
you cannot say that I am lazy ; that I assure 
you I will never be, since I am always so happy 
when I can find an opportunity of begging 
you to love a daughter who has so great an 
affection for her dearest mother, that she cannot 
express it." 

On the 27th, after considerable delay, the 
little Queen set out for Spain ; but the fleet only 
got as far as Antibes, and it was a somewhat 
uncomfortable crossing, if we may judge by the 



106 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

frank remarks written to the Duchess by her 
little daughter. It is a sad letter, this last one 
which follows ; the final wrench at parting, not 
only from her dear ones, but her country as well, 
to face an unknown future in a foreign land as 
the wife of a husband she had never seen, making 
her tender young heart almost too full for words. 
She laments the parting from her ladies, but 
adds, touchingly, " I hope the King will quite 
console me." 

" Antibes, 
" September 28th. 

" I am very pleased to have an oppor- 
tunity of giving you my news, my dearest 
mother. I will begin by telling you that I 
thought I should never start yesterday, for it 
had been arranged for the morning, and when 
it was time they came to tell me I could not go on 
board : there was a great fuss ; at one moment 
they said I could not go, the next minute they 
declared the opposite. In the end I started from 
Nice at three o'clock : I received your dear letter 
a moment before leaving, I thought that the 
messenger who had been sent to you would 
return — I was quite taken aback when Monsieur 
de Castel Rodrigue told me he would not come 
back. I executed your commission to Madame 
des Ursins ; I assure you she is very kind, and 
has much wit ; but all the same, I cannot help 



LETTERS OF A QUEEN 107 

regretting my other ladies very much, to whom I 
have said good-bye with real sorrow. Yesterday 
I felt ill, and was sick, which has made me afraid 
of the days to come. Last night Madame des 
Ursins slept in my room, as well as Madame des 
Noyers, who suffered a great deal too. We 
all three had bugs, which kept us awake the 
whole night ; all the same, I am very well. 
This morning the wind was against us ; so, 
after dinner, we came here to sleep, and to avoid 
the bugs. I should have begun my letter by 
describing to you the magnificence of the galley, 
but being ill somewhat disgusted me with it, 
which made me very anxious for my crossing 
to be finished. 

" I am feeling very sad here, for it is the 
most miserable village you can imagine. I was 
forgetting to tell you the best of all : as soon as 
we arrived, Monsieur de Lucque offered me a 
handsome collation, and afterwards there was 
some rather pretty music ; but you will under- 
stand, dear mother, that that did not much 
rejoice me. I begin to wonder how I shall be 
able to live in Spain without a single lady of 
Piedmont in my suite, for at this moment, 
when I have some still, the prospect begins to 
produce an effect on me ; but, on the other 
hand, I hope that the King will quite console me. 

" I am very sorry to hear of my father's 
illness, but I trust it has been no more serious 
than mine. You regretted, dear mother, that 



108 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

you did not come to Nice ; I assure you that I 
have felt the same regret on my side ; but 
even had you come there, we should be parted 
at the present moment ; so one must be patient. 
My heart is so full that I can say no more to you 
about it, except, dearest mother, to assure 
you of my affection, and to embrace you with all 
my heart." 

Here, then, is the end of this charming series 
of child's letters, which shows the spirit in which 
Marie Louise of Savoy entered on her life as 
Queen-Consort of Spain. History does not 
belie their promise, for, forced to play a great 
role in very critical times in her adopted country, 
the young Queen was idolized by the Spanish 
people. Twice did she rule the kingdom as 
Regent, in 1702 and 1709, and on her early 
death at Madrid, on February 14th, 1714, 
when she was not yet twenty-six years of age, 
great demonstrations of grief showed the affection 
and esteem in which she was held by the whole 
of Spain. 

But though Nice has been intimately con- 
nected with many personages of Royal blood, 
who from the accident of their birth have lived 
in the eyes of the world, and have come down 
to posterity more on account of the positions 
which they occupied than through their own 



THE WORTHIES OF NICE 109 

distinguished merits, yet she has also been the 
birth and death-place of famous men and women 
who have achieved greatness from their own 
efforts, often in spite of, rather than on account 
of, the state of life in which they were born. 
The memory of Catherine Segurane, the washer- 
woman who, by her energetic conduct, saved 
the town from being taken by the assault of the 
Turks, is still gratefully preserved, and she is 
often spoken of as the Nicois Joan of Arc. 
A statue of her is shortly to be erected on one 
of the public places of the city ; for though one 
once existed, it has long since disappeared. 

Among artists who own Nice as their native 
place, the earliest and one of the best known is 
Ludovic Brea, who flourished in the latter part 
of the fifteenth century. His pictures are to be 
found in many churches, and his " Crucifixion " 
in the monastery at Cimiez is known to all ; 
it is rich in colouring, as in imagination, and is 
historically interesting from the view of the 
Chateau of Nice, as it appeared in 1475, which 
is to be seen in the background. 

The eminent artist, Carlo Vanloo (son and 
grandson of Dutch painters settled in France), 
was born in Nice in 1684. He became well 
known, and was appointed painter to the King 
of Sardinia, in whose employ he amassed a con- 



110 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

siderable fortune, but he was ruined through the 
investment of his money in the Mississippi 
scheme. He thereupon removed to England, 
and took up his residence in London, where he 
was very successful, becoming the fashionable 
portrait painter of the day. There is a picture of 
his in the old Palace of the Lascaris, in the Rue 
Droite, and another fine work of his brush may 
be seen in the Picture Gallery belonging to the 
town. Vanloo died in the year 1765. 

The celebrated astronomer, Cassini, and his 
two nephews, were natives of the County of Nice. 
Giovanni Domenico Cassini was the restorer of 
astronomy in France, as to Galileo fell the 
honour of its development in Italy, and to 
Copernicus in Germany. Davis tells us some 
interesting details of the life and work of this 
celebrated astronomer. He was born in 1625, 
and after having finished his studies at Genoa, 
he devoted himself entirely to astronomy. He 
had made such progress in this science that he 
was chosen professor of it in the University of 
Bologna, before he was twenty-five years of age. 
During his residence in that town he traced his 
famous meridian. By means of this admirable 
invention the diurnal course of the sun could be 
observed, as it approached, or retired from, the 
zenith of the town. He bestowed such unre- 



THE ASTRONOMER, CASSINI 111 

mitting attention on this subject that a celebrated 
astronomer is said to have exclaimed that he 
was more than human. In consequence of the 
observations he made on this meridian, he 
published more correct tables of the sun than 
any that had appeared before that time. He 
determined the parallax of that body, established 
the theory of the comets, and discovered four 
of the five satellites of Saturn ; in short, there 
was no branch of this sublime science in which he 
was not profoundly skilled. His celestial occupa- 
tions, however, did not prevent him from attend- 
ing to terrestrial objects. The inundations of 
the Po caused frequent disputes between the 
inhabitants of Bologna and Ferrara. He regu- 
lated them to the satisfaction of both towns, and 
was, in consequence, made by them superin- 
tendent of that river. 

Louis XIV, who was ambitious of glory of 
every kind, wished to induce Cassini to come 
into France, and accordingly ordered Colbert to 
write to him. Cassini replied to this invitation 
that he could not accept the honour that was 
intended him without the consent of the Pope, 
and of the Senate of Bologna. The King, 
supposing he could not succeed on these terms, 
requested them to allow him to reside a few 
years in France, a request which was granted. 



112 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Cassini arrived in Paris in 1669, and was 
received by Louis in the same manner that 
Sosigenes, when he was called to Rome to 
reform the Calendar of Numa, had been received 
by Caesar. Some years after the Pope and the 
Senate of Bologna demanded his return, with 
considerable warmth ; but Colbert disputed 
their authority with as much, and had the 
satisfaction of succeeding. Cassini married soon 
after, which was very agreeable to the King, 
who had the politeness to say that he was very 
happy to see him become a Frenchman for life. 

In the presence of all the Royal family he 
predicted the course of the famous comet of 
1680. He had made a similar prediction at 
Rome before Queen Christina, with respect to 
the comet of 1664. Both of them followed the 
course he had traced. Towards the latter part 
of his life he lost his sight. The same misfortune 
happened to the celebrated Galileo. This made 
Fontenelle say, in the true spirit of fable, that 
these great men, who had made so many celestial 
discoveries, resembled Tiresias, who became 
blind in consequence of having seen some great 
secret of the gods. He died in 1712, aged 
eighty years, without disease and without pain ; 
his only infirmity was his loss of sight. His 
mind resembled his body, his temper was equable 



THE ASTRONOMER, CASSINI 113 

and mild, and never ruffled by those fretful 
irritations which are the most painful and most 
incurable of diseases. 

There are still some families of his name in 
the country. In the church of Perinaldo there 
is a large picture representing the souls in 
purgatory, of which he made a present to his 
native place in 1663. The date is on the lower 
part of it. He was at that time Professor at 
Bologna. 



CHAPTER VI 

Massena, "TEnfant cheri de la Victoire'' — Paganini, his death and 
strange obsequies — The wanderings of his coffin, and its final inter- 
ment — Giuseppe Garibaldi — La Bella Rosina — Alexandre Dumas — 
Queen Victoria at Cimiez — Other Royal guests — The Maharajah 
Duleep Singh — Father Gapon. 

IN these bygone times the glamour of romance 
has thrown its many-coloured robe over great 
personalities and strenuous lives ; they have 
had their day, and their memories are woven into 
the glittering fabric, some forming the golden 
strands which shimmer in the web of history, 
others but part of the sombre background 
which throws the brighter colours into relief. 
This was never more noticeable than in the 
epoch of the Napoleonic wars, when men came 
to the front with meteoric speed, or at best in a 
space which, in days of peace, would have been 
an impossibility. Look at the case of Massena. 
The Nicois may well be proud of him, the son 
of poor parents, fourteen years in the ranks before 
he became a sergeant, and finally Prince of 
Essling, Duke of Rivoli, and Marshal of France. 
" The most famous of her Marshals," Disraeli 
tells us, in " Coningsby," not forgetting to add 

114 



MASSENA 115 

that, like many other heroes, he was a Hebrew, 
and his real name Manasseh. Nice and its 
country-side are full of traces of the little dark- 
eyed Jewish lad, who began life as a pot-boy, 
and was intended to finish it as a fencing master, 
had not a strange destiny been reserved for him. 
The boy's parents were peasants at Levens, 
and his mother was on a visit to Nice when the 
child was unexpectedly born on May 6th, at a 
house which is now 21 Quai Saint Jean Baptiste. 
He was baptized in the church of Saint Augustine, 
which has since disappeared. 

Jew or Gentile, says Dean Hole, all France 
echoed the title which his chief, the great Napo- 
leon, gave him, of " 1' Enfant cheri de la victoire, 
le brave Massena," and when Fortune turned 
her wheel, we know with what consummate 
skill he effected his retreat, although we may be 
permitted a small smile of incredulity at the 
French account of it : " S'il bat en retraite c'est 
plutot en vainqueur qu'en vaincu ; Wellington 
(sic) ne le poursuit qu'avec crainte et lenteur." 
He will ever be remembered for his great defence 
of Genoa, where he kept at bay twenty-five 
thousand Austrians under General Ott, thus 
making the victory of Marengo possible for 
Napoleon. During the siege, it is related that he 
invited his staff to dinner, and when the covers 



116 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

were removed, the piece de resistance was found 
to be a cat surrounded by twelve mice. Though 
he was openly hostile to the establishment of the 
Empire, he was none the less covered with 
honours by Napoleon, who said, " Massena has 
done more than any of my lieutenants; every- 
one must admire his great military qualities, 
and if he has faults, one must forget them, for 
what man has not ? " That he had genuine 
military abilities is admitted by all, but he 
also developed qualities very alien to his race 
as his career progressed ; and a barbarity of 
which Miss Dempster quotes the Duke of Welling- 
ton as saying, in reference to his retreat, " that 
it had seldom been equalled, and had, luckily, 
never been surpassed, as it was revolting to 
human nature." He died a rich man ; when he 
surrendered his command to Marmont, and re- 
tired to Bordeaux, he took with him over four 
million francs ; but his life was shortened by 
debauchery, and it cannot be forgotten that, 
brave as he undoubtedly was, he was never at 
heart thoroughly loyal, either to the Emperor or 
to the Bourbons. There is a spot near the Quatre 
Chemins, on the upper Corniche Road, which old 
Nicois used to point out as having been the 
place where the Marshal once breakfasted. He 
died in 1817, and his memory has been kept green 



PAGANIN1 117 

among the people of Nice. His statue rises 
in the heart of the town, and the Palace of 
his descendant dominates the Promenade des 
Anglais. The ashes of Marceau rested for 
some years in Nice. He fell near Coblentzin 
1796, and his body was cremated and brought 
here according to his wish, where it remained 
until the year 1889, when the remains were 
transferred to the Pantheon in Paris. 

It is a curious fact in history that the lives 
of some of those men who make their mark in 
the world — whether in the arts, in politics, or in 
warfare — come down to succeeding generations 
as clearly defined as if they had lived in the days 
in which their descendants read of them ; 
while in the case of others a mystery grows with 
years, until it is almost impossible to separate 
the true from the false. Such a case is that of 
Nicolo Paganini. Although the death of the 
great violinist only occurred in 1840, many of the 
facts of his life, and all those concerning the 
history of his remains subsequent to his decease, 
are so obscure that even. after the lapse of this 
comparatively short period we are reduced to 
supposition rather than proof as to what actually 
took place. 

Much has been written on Paganini's life, but 
little attention has hitherto been paid to the 



118 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

strange and renewed burials which were bestowed 
upon his body. Monsieur Georges Maurevert, 
to whose research many of the facts set forth 
below are due, not long ago endeavoured to 
elucidate the mystery, and collected much in- 
teresting information without coming to any 
very definite conclusion. 

Everything to do with Paganini bears the 
impress of mystery, his life, his talent, his death ; 
and the truth as to the peregrinations of his 
embalmed body has been so obscured as to be 
difficult of elucidation. Paganini died in Nice — 
then, of course, still Italian — on May 27th, 1840, 
in a house at the corner of the Rue Sainte 
Reparate and the Rue de la Prefecture, where 
a marble tablet records the fact in the following 
graceful inscription : 

" Poiche da questa casa, volgenda il giorno 
XXVII, di maggio MDCCCXL, lo spirito di 
eterna armonia. Giace 1'arco potente di magiche 
note ma sulle aure soavi di Nizza, ne vive 
ancora la dolcezza suprema." (C. Bonelli pose 
A. G. Barrili detto, MDCCCLXXXI.) 

" His magic notes still vibrate in the soft 
breeze of Nice." 

Family archives relate that this historic house 
was then the property of the Marquis de Chateau- 
neuf, a Nicois. The Marquis's homme de con- 



PAGANINI 119 

fiance was a man named Francois Amba, who — 
when he found that the clergy refused the last 
rites of the Church to the illustrious dead — 
begged his brother-in-law — Jules Bessi Cadet, a 
hatter — to allow him to deposit the coffin of 
Paganini in a cellar which he had rented in the 
said house, and this was done on the morrow, 
May 28th. But here, at the outset of the story, 
the mass of contradictory detail which obscures 
it, begins to confront the enquirer ; for a con- 
temporary, Francesco Regli, in his " Storia del 
Violino," relates as follows : 

" When passing through Nice, not long after 
the death of Paganini, as I was anxious to 
visit whatever was curious and interesting in 
the town, I went to the hospital, where I saw — 
not in a cantine, as I had been told, but in an 
apartment on the ground floor — a case. As we 
came to it, I noticed my guide's face flush, 
and he turned and said to me, in a tone of vexa- 
tion, ' You are looking at that case ; your 
instinct tells you something. It contains the 
remains of the famous Paganini. Monsignor 
Galvano, our Bishop, learning that he was in 
extremis, sent a Canon to speak to him about 
receiving the Sacrament. He made his confes- 
sion, but as he was suffering from constant vomit- 
ing, the doctor would not allow him to take the 
Communion, and gave a certificate to that effect. 



120 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

So he died without receiving the Sacraments, 
and Monsignor refused him burial in consecrated 
ground. His son, Achillino — who has inherited 
his entire fortune — has brought an action against 
the Bishop, but no one can tell how long it will 
last, as these priests stick to their principles, 
and don't give way easily.' " 

The story is continued by Fetis, the well- 
known musicographer : 

" In vain his son Achillino (whose mother 
was the singer, Antonia Bianchi), his friends, 
and most of the artistes in Nice, begged leave to 
have a service celebrated for the repose of his 
soul, alleging that — like all persons suffering 
from consumption — he had not thought death 
near, and had passed away suddenly. The 
Bishop, however, refused permission, and con- 
tented himself with granting a certificate of 
death, with leave to transport the body wherever 
they wished. This solution was not accepted, 
and the matter was taken into Court. The 
decision of the Tribunal of Nice was in favour 
of the Bishop. An appeal was then made to 
Rome, which annulled the decree of the Bishop 
of Nice, and appointed a commission, consisting 
of the Archbishop of Turin, with two Canons 
of the Cathedral of Genoa (Paganini's native 
city), to hold an enquiry into the Catholicity 
of the deceased. During all this time the body 
remained in a room in the hospital at Nice." 



PAGANINI 121 

From this point we plunge straight into legend, 
but a legend which supplies the motive for the 
first translation of the remains. It is asserted 
that the population of Nice began to get uncom- 
fortable. Men declared that, nightly, lamentable 
cries issued from the room in the hospital in 
which Paganini's body was enclosed, devils were 
said to be seen dancing round the coffin, and 
the wildest gossip was rife on all sides. The 
authorities, fearing unpleasant demonstrations, 
decided to remove the remains to the lazaretto 
at Villefranche. The disorder of Paganini's 
life, and the little respect he had evidenced for 
religion, might, in some measure, account for 
this legend, but his extraordinary personality — 
attached to the marvellous dexterity through 
which he had made his name famous by playing 
on a single string the most complicated and 
surprising variations — doubtless went far in the 
readiness with which diabolical interference was 
credited by a superstitious populace. 

The word-picture of the violinist painted by 
Theodore de Banville, in his " Mer de Nice," 
goes far to prove this. 

" I seem to see again," he writes, " that 
terrible grandiose, fear-inspiring head of Paganini 
so imperiously modelled by genius and by grief. 
His burning eyes were hollow like a deep abyss, 



122 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

where an infinite ocean of disenchantment seemed 
to roll in fitful waves. His thick, bushy eyebrows 
bristled round that, eager glance so often 
wounded ; his dilated nostril sought the breath 
of freedom ; his mouth was distorted at once by 
ecstasy and irony ; and on his thin and powerful 
neck the fine locks of his hair fell in caressing 
curls, like tired snakes." 

This is flamboyant writing, but produces the 
picture of no ordinary countenance. 

But his playing, even more than his appear- 
ance, gave currency to the tale that he had sold 
himself — body and soul — to the Evil One. A 
story is still told in Nice that a blind man, 
hearing him play at the Opera House, demanded 
how many musicians were performing. "It is 
Paganini," was the answer. " But how many 
are with him ? " " No one, there is only Paga- 
nini." The blind man replied, " Come, friend, 
let us go, that is no man, it is a devil " ("Esun 
diaou "). A Viennese amateur was so convinced 
of the truth of this, that, at a concert given by 
Paganini in Vienna, he publicly declared that 
he had seen the devil assisting the performer. 
On another occasion his music had unexpected 
results. He was giving a concert in the old 
Teatro Saut-Agostino at Genoa, and the audience 
was, as usual, wrapped in an ecstasy of delight. 



PAGANINI 123 

Suddenly a piercing shriek came from a box. It 
was found that a woman there, under the 
powerful charm of the artist's incomparable 
music, had been prematurely delivered of a child. 
The boy, born under such strange circumstances, 
was Sivori, who became the favourite pupil of 
the maestro a few years later. 

The cause which led to Paganini's first exile 
from Genoa (which was his native place), and 
so indirectly set him in the way of travel which 
brought him so often later to Nice, was some- 
what curious. In the year 1825 King Charles 
Felix was present at a concert given by Paganini 
in Genoa. Carried away by his enthusiasm 
at the artist's performance, the King sent a 
chamberlain on to the stage to congratulate the 
great player, and to beg him to repeat the 
morceau. Paganini accepted the congratulations, 
but replied drily to the chamberlain's request, 
" Paganini never gives encores." What he in- 
tended to convey was, as all musicians and 
amateurs know, that, as he nearly always im- 
provised his most surprising effects on the spur 
of the moment, it was absolutely impossible for 
him to play the same piece in the same manner, 
twice consecutively. The King did not realize this 
and, furious at not having his wishes immediately 
obeyed, he exiled the artist from his realm. 



124 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

But to return to our story. 

The transference of the remains to the laza- 
retto at Villefranche appears to have been carried 
out with but little delay, and here they remained 
a full month, waiting a decision from Rome on 
the subject of their interment. The statement 
in the " Grand Dictionnaire " of Larousse, that 
they were kept for five years in a cellar of the 
hospital at Nice, is evidently erroneous, and has 
doubtless arisen from the fact that it was not 
till five years later (in 1845) that the body — 
at the suggestion of the Empress Marie Louise, 
then known as Duchess of Parma, Placentia, and 
Guastalla — was transported to Parma, and buried 
in the property which had belonged to the artist 
at Gajona, in her States. 

It is the history of these five years that is so 
obscure, and the statements as to the disposal 
of the remains during that period are so confused 
and contradictory, that the light thrown on 
them by the investigation of Monsieur Georges 
Maurevert is of the highest interest. After the 
coffin had been lying at Villefranche for a month 
the odour of decomposition — in spite of the 
fact that the body had been embalmed — became 
so insupportable that the authorities decided 
to get rid of it, and it was actually deposited 
close to the sea by the side of a fetid rivulet 



PAGANINI 125 

formed by the refuse of a neighbouring factory, 
where oil was extracted from olives in the 
primitive method of the country. There it 
remained for some days, no one having the 
courage to risk the displeasure of the ecclesiastical 
authorities, or the phantasmal terrors of excom- 
munication, by giving it decent burial. But 
among the friends with whom Paganini had 
been on terms of intimacy at Nice was one 
bearing a name respected for many generations 
among the Nicois nobility, the Comte de Cessole, 
whose son was a well-known figure in the public 
life of the Riviera until his death a few years 
ago. This worthy gentleman, who had held 
Paganini in high esteem, not only as a personal 
friend, but also as a great virtuoso, was himself 
an amateur violinist of no mean order, and he 
had received from the maestro — not many days 
before his death — the present of an Amati of 
great value. 

The Comte de Cessole was, not unnaturally, 
highly indignant at the treatment accorded to 
the remains of his friend by the bigoted and 
ignorant ecclesiastics who then ruled the diocese 
of Nice, and he decided to bury them with 
decency at his own risk and peril. He made 
known his project to four friends, two — the 
Comte Urbain Garin de Cocconato and the 



126 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Comte de Pierlas — whose names were well 
known in the country, and two others, a young 
sculptor called Alexis de Saint-Marc (who was 
then at Nice, working on a bust of the Comtesse 
de Cessole), and Felix Ziem, the famous artist, 
who was at that time about twenty years of age. 
It was Ziem who, towards the close of a long 
life, recalled the incidents of the drama in which 
he had taken an active part over half a century 
previously. 

On the day following their conference, the 
Comte de Cessole and his four friends met at 
Villefranche at midnight, having taken the 
precaution to furnish themselves with torches 
and cords. They found the coffin in the place 
indicated, and by the uncertain light of the 
torches, with the help of the ropes and long 
sticks, it was got out upon the seashore, and 
placed on a hand-litter, which the sturdy arms 
of the peasants bore in the direction of Saint 
Jean. The night was starless, and the waves 
dashed at the feet of the cortege, wetting the 
coffin with spray, while the shrieking of the wind 
brought to the minds of those engaged in the 
adventure the demoniacal tales that had sprung 
up among the populace of Nice. Monsieur de 
Cessole marched ahead with a torch, and slowly 
the procession fought its way along the peninsula, 



PAGANINI 127 

until it reached a property belonging, not to the 
Comte de Cessole, as has currently been reported, 
but to Monsieur de Pierlas. It was at a point 
on the extremity of the Cap Saint Hospice, 
just below the ancient Saracen Round Tower, 
that the tomb of Paganini was made. The coffin 
was laid upon a rock, some yards from the edge 
of the sea, which in stormy weather completely 
covered it, and a marble slab inscribed only 
with the name " Paganini " was set over it. 
M. A. Blanchi, a lute-maker at Nice, relates 
that his father had seen it in 1850, and long 
afterwards described to him the tomb of the great 
violinist ; and he himself affirms that he recently 
found traces of masonry on the spot indicated 
to him many years before by his father. This 
is the first stage in the strange Odyssey of the 
dead artist. 

The events that follow are not quite so 
clear, but it would appear that the body rested 
here from about the end of June, 1840, till a 
date — a year or even two years later — when 
Paganini's son, Achillino, decided to transfer 
the remains to Genoa, where his father had been 
born. The coffin was embarked on board a 
ship, which set sail for that port, but on arrival 
permission to land it was rigorously refused, 
as the vessel had started from Marseilles, where 



128 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

a severe epidemic of cholera was then raging. 
The little ship therefore returned along the coast 
to the Lerins Islands, where — possibly as a 
result of another refusal for permission to land 
from the Cannes authorities — on the Islet of 
Saint Ferreol, the body of Paganini was again 
entombed. On this tiny isle, only rarely visited 
by a few fisher-folk, a hole is still shown under 
the name of " Trou de Paganini," where it is 
believed the coffin rested. Guy de Maupassant 
describes Saint Ferreol in " Sur l'Eau " in a few 
vivid phrases : 

" We pass near a bare red rock, bristling like a 
porcupine. So seamed is it with pointed teeth 
and fangs that it is scarcely possible to walk on 
it ; you must set your feet in the hollows 
between its tusks, and advance with caution ; 
it is called Saint Ferreol. A little earth, come 
one knows not whence, has gathered in the holes 
and crevices of the rock, and from it have sprung 
a kind of lily, and some delicious blue iris, whose 
seed seems to have been dropped from the skies. 
On this curious reef in the open sea the body of 
Paganini lay hidden below ground for five years." 

So far the writer is accurate — except that 
it is impossible that the coffin could have 
remained so long a time here, but the rest of 
his narration is worthy of little credence. He 



PAGANINI 129 

mixes up the refusal of the clergy of Nice to give 
Christian burial to the remains with the sanitary 
reasons which induced the Genoese port au- 
thorities to refuse them admission to their city, 
and states that Paganini had died of cholera 
instead of laryngeal phthisis. He also mentions 
a return to Marseilles before the burial at Saint 
Ferreol, for which there appears to be no valid 
authority. An old print gives the date of the 
second translation of the coffin to Genoa as 
August 15th, 1844 — though Fetis states the 
year as 1845 — when on the demand of Marie 
Louise (as has been mentioned above) it was 
taken to Parma, and interred in Paganini's own 
property at Gajona. Here the body of the 
maestro rested until the year 1853, when it was 
once more exhumed for hygienic reasons, and 
some fresh process of embalming resorted to. 
At last, in 1876, thirty-six years after the death of 
Paganini, the Papal Court authorized the trans- 
ference of the remains to the church of the 
Madonna della Steccata at Parma — a church 
specially affected by the Chevaliers of the Order 
of Saint George, which had been founded by 
Charles II of Parma, when Duke of Lucca, in the 
'thirties, and membership of which had, by him, 
been conferred on Paganini. Hither, after his 
many wanderings, the great violinist was at 



130 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

length borne. The translation took place at 
night by torchlight, and a vast concourse of 
people lined the banks of the torrent Baganza, 
along which the cortege passed. The mourning 
was conducted by the Baron Attila, nephew of 
Nicolo, and the tardy rites of a solemn requiem 
were celebrated over the body of the man who 
had died six and thirty years previously. 

Here it might have been hoped that the much- 
travelled remains might be allowed to rest undis- 
turbed, but such was not the case. In April, 
1893, the Hungarian violinist, Ondricek, of 
Prague, was staying at Parma as the guest of 
the Baron Achillino Paganini — now a venerable 
old man — and on his solicitation the coffin was 
opened, and a few friends were permitted to 
view the corpse. But even this was not the 
final disturbance of the tomb. Another ex- 
humation, described as being imposed by " urgent 
necessity," took place in 1896. A Genoese 
journalist, who was present at the ceremony, 
wrote in the " Caffaro " that the identity of the 
corpse was undeniable, and the features still 
well preserved. " The black coat," he says, 
" was in tatters, but its cut was still clearly 
discernible on the shoulders. The lower and 
middle part of the body are no longer anything 
but a heap of bones. But the face, after lying 



GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI 131 

for more than half a century in the grave, 
still preserves its indescribable expression." 

A photograph was taken of the head, and the 
aged son then placed his father's body in a fresh 
coffin, into which a pane of glass had been let, 
so that the features could be observed. Since 
then Paganini has lain in peace. 

Strangely do these great men alternate among 
the worthies of Nice ; for the next name which 
comes on to the page of history is that of one 
whose only knowledge of music was the roar of 
cannon and the whistle of the musket-ball. 
Giuseppe Garibaldi, even more than Massena, 
is a child of Nice, for whereas the former was 
born there by a fortuitous accident, the latter 
was the son of Nicois parents, whose forefathers 
had long dwelt in the town. His history is too 
recent and too widely known for it to be necessary 
to record it here in detail. The Liberation of 
Italy was an achievement which is written in 
letters of gold in the literature of every country 
in the civilized world, and the Liberator is as 
familiar a figure to Englishmen as to his own 
countrypeople. Suffice it to say that on his 
arrival from Montevideo, on July 6th, 1848, the 
town made a magnificent ovation to the patriot, 
and an enthusiastic manifestation in his honour 
took place at the port. 



132 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Another link connects Nice with Garibaldian 
times ; for here was born La Bella Rosina, 
afterwards known as the Countess Mirafiori, the 
morganatic wife of Victor Emmanuel II. Her 
birth took place at 17 Rue de la Condamine, in 
1833, and she was baptized in the church of the 
Gesu ; her father was a drum-major in the 
Queen's Regiment. 

One winter's day in the 'fifties Alexandre 
Dumas established a momentary connection 
with Nice, and we read that his yacht came 
into harbour with its purple sails rigged with 
silver cordage. On board were a gay company 
of painters, poets, and musicians, en route for 
Sicilian seas5 v 

Not long afterwards came the annexation, 
and from that day forward the town has steadily 
increased both in prosperity and magnitude, 
until the old Italian city has become a modern 
capital of palaces and pleasure - gardens, fre- 
quented by the great of all nations. So the tale 
of the worthies of Nice draws to its close, but 
there are still a few of the visitors of recent years 
who must be briefly called to mind. 

To Britons the chief of these figures at the 
end of the last century was naturally that of 
Queen Victoria. For five successive seasons 
did she pass the springtime at Cimiez, gathering 



QUEEN VICTORIA AT CIMIEZ 133 

health and strength in her green old age for the 
performance of those duties of State which she 
carried out unflinchingly to within a few days 
of the end. Her sojourns here were very quiet 
and restful, and the warm-hearted Nicois people 
gave her a very sincere and genuine welcome, 
which she much appreciated. No state was kept 
up ; in the mornings the Queen drove in her 
donkey-chair among the gardens of the villas 
hard by, or in the lanes of Cimiez, usually 
accompanied by Princess Beatrice or Princess 
Christian, who walked by her side ; and some- 
times, too, by the young Princess who is now 
Queen-Consort of Spain. Few guests were re- 
ceived, and perhaps the only ceremony which 
took place during those five spring-tides, if 
ceremony it could be called, was once on Princess 
Beatrice's birthday, when a display of fireworks 
was given in the gardens of the hotel, and a 
choir of Nicois children sang " God Save the 
Queen," which they had taken pains to learn in 
English. Deafening cheers went up from the 
big crowd collected, which were renewed a 
hundredfold when the fireworks died down, 
and the Queen's venerable figure, supported by 
an Indian attendant, was seen on the balcony 
bowing her thanks. 

But it is not the great Queen of England who 



134 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

lives in the hearts of the Nicois, it is the memory 
of a pathetic little figure in black, with an old- 
fashioned mushroom hat, and a small black silk 
sunshade, who was daily seen driving about the 
country-side, taking her tea at a halt on the 
high-road, ordering her carriage to fall in among 
the mourners at the funeral procession of some 
poor peasant, or following quietly in the wake of 
some religious procession which she accidentally 
met ; that is the picture which the people 
remember, and that is why they have set the 
Queen's statue near the hotel where she dwelt, 
that the memory may be preserved to future 
generations. Other sovereigns, too, are bound 
up with the later years of Nice. King Edward, 
when Prince of Wales, stayed many a time at 
the old Cercle de la Mediterranee, and raced in 
his famous yacht " Britannia " in the days 
when other well-remembered yachts of equal size 
sailed the blue waters of the Bay of Angels, 
" Walkyrie," " Satanita," " Ailsa," and many 
another ; with oftentimes his brother, Duke 
Alfred of Saxe-Coburg, as his guest, on board. 
King Leopold II of the Belgians, with his 
daughter Princess Clementine, were well-known 
figures at one time, and His Majesty's daily walks 
must have been a trial to his entourage. Later 
on he built himself lordly pleasure-houses at Cap 



OTHER ROYAL GUESTS 135 

Ferrat, and went to Versailles for the models 
of the pavilions he scattered over his grounds ; 
motor drives took the place of long walks, and 
the Princess Clementine spent the winters at 
Saint Raphael. 

The Maharajah Duleep Singh was another 
guest of Nice in the early 'nineties, who drew a 
certain amount of attention. He liked to be 
known as the King of Lahore, and when in 
temporary difficulties with the Government of 
India over his too freely expressed overtures 
to the Russian Government his pension ceased 
for a time to be paid, many of his jewels were 
said to have found their way into the brilliant 
shops round the Public Gardens. 

King Oscar of Sweden was a frequent visitor, 
as his son, King Gustav V, is still ; both his 
present Majesty and the Crown Prince are 
well known on the Nice Lawn Tennis Courts. 
The King of Denmark and his family are other 
faithful habitues ; and so are the Royal Family 
of Montenegro. 

The Russian Grand Dukes one and all make 
of the Riviera a second home, and none is more 
popular than the Duke of Leuchtenberg. States- 
men of all countries take their winter holidays 
here ; Lord Salisbury used to spend all the 
time he could spare at the pleasant villa he 



136 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

built high up on the hill-side above Beaulieu ; 
and the Christmas holidays bring down most 
of the British Cabinet and half the House of 
Commons. Not long ago an unwelcome General 
Election called back some dozen gentlemen 
who had hoped to pass a long and pleasant 
vacation here at the beginning of the year. 
Loud were their lamentations, and sad their 
farewells. But their constituents took pity 
on them, and they were speedily back again, 
having one and all failed to secure re-election ; 
unkind rumours will have it that they were all 
Conservatives ! 

A politician of another type came here not 
many years ago, arrived in secrecy and stealth, 
and left as silently as he came. This was George 
Gapon, the Russian priest who at that time 
seemed destined to lead his countrypeople 
in the successful way of revolution. He was 
surely one of the strangest figures of the last 
century. When he escaped from Saint Peters- 
burg on that fatal Red Sunday, when so many 
of his compatriots were shot down before the 
Winter Palace, his comrades managed to get 
him out of the country, and he lay hidden here, 
where he was least likely to be looked for. 
In the assumed character of a Roumanian 
priest, he escaped notice for many weeks, 



FATHER GAPON 137 

and might have continued to do so had it not 
been for the strange irregularity which his life 
suddenly assumed. He gave way to notorious 
excesses, and spent most of his days at the 
gambling tables, choosing one by preference 
where a certain Grand Duke was playing. Well, 
he disappeared, and the end is known to all, 
how months after his dead body was found in a 
lonely cottage in the outskirts of Saint Peters- 
burg, with a paper pinned to it, to say he had 
been executed by his comrades as a traitor 
and a police spy. 

The Riviera has become so cosmopolitan of 
recent years that it cannot be said that the 
natives of any one particular country predomi- 
nate over the others ; and the lines of demarca- 
tion between the different foreign colonies have 
been practically obliterated, even more so than 
has been the case elsewhere. But what Nice 
has lost in intimacy it has gained in splendour, 
and its sun is as prodigal of its welcome as are 
its people. 



CHAPTER VII 

Religious piety in former times — The patrons of the city — Monu- 
ments and palaces — The town gates — The Pont Vieux — The port — 
The terraces — The Hotel de la Prefecture — The Tour Bellanda — 
The Mint — Palais Lascaris — Palais Marie Christine — The churches 
of Nice — The Cathedral of Saint Reparate — The monasteries of 
Cimiez, Saint Pons, and Saint Barthelemy — Old inns. 

THROUGHOUT the history of Nice it is 
impossible to avoid being struck with the 
devotional spirit that animated its rulers ; we 
read of churches being built in consequence of 
vows, of benefactions made in return for favours 
granted by Heaven, and of a general piety of 
which no trace whatever now remains, either 
in the public or in the private life of the city. 
Read what Monsieur Burnel wrote on the fetes 
of Nice, no further back than the middle of the 
nineteenth century. " No public fete takes place 
in Nice without the co-operation of the Army 
and the clergy. The festivals of the Church are 
ushered in by the discharge of cannon. The 
cannon of the Chateau at midnight on Christmas 
Day announces to the Nigois the birth of Christ. 
Cannon again, on Easter Eve, glorifies His 
Resurrection ; every Sunday the regiments of 

138 



RELIGIOUS PIETY 139 

the garrison march to their parish church 
with the band playing and drums beating ; all 
kneel at the Elevation of the Host. This picture 
of material force, inclining itself to moral force, 
has always seemed to me a moving spectacle. 
Like to the ceremony which occurs every spring, 
when the Bishop, surrounded by his Chapter, 
blesses the sea and country-side. The Prelate, in 
full pontificals, standing on the beach, extends 
his hands in blessing over the waters which 
provide the principal food of his flock. On the 
morrow he betakes himself with his clergy to the 
Place Victor (now the Place Garibaldi), and 
from thence he blesses the country-side, where 
the wheat is growing and the fruits of the earth 
are ripening. Finally, a third day is devoted 
to the blessing of the mountains, which produce 
the olive trees, and which send down their fertile 
waters on the fields." 

But let us go back to the sixteenth century. 
At this date Saint Sebastian and Saint Roch 
were the protectors of Nice, and in accordance 
with a vow made on January 20th, 1581, to 
these two Saints, whose prayers were believed 
to have delivered the population from the 
plague which was then raging, a Te Deum 
and the Litany of the Saints were ordered 
to be sung in the Cathedral of Saint Reparate 



140 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

every year on their festivals, January 20th and 
August 16th. 

In 1631 two additional protectors of the town 
were proclaimed, in the persons of Saint Rosalie 
and Saint Francis Xavier. The former was 
designated because it had become known at 
Nice that the town of Palermo had, through the 
intercession of this virgin-martyr, been delivered 
from the plague which was raging there. The 
Senate of Palermo granted some recently dis- 
covered relics of the Saint to the town of Nice, 
and these were sent in a magnificent silver 
reliquary bearing a suitable inscription. The 
Consuls of Nice, in return for this fraternal gift, 
sent a beautiful wrought silver lamp to be sus- 
pended before Saint Rosalie's shrine at Palermo, 
and voted an annual sum of money to keep it 
perpetually burning. At the same time, a chapel 
dedicated to the Saint was constructed at the 
public expense, in the Cathedral of Saint Reparate. 

Close on a century later, on October 11th, 
1677, the Bishop and members of the Synod, 
which was held on that day at Nice, proclaimed 
the Virgin of Laghet Protectress and special 
Patroness of the Town of Nice, and the Consuls 
caused her statue to be placed on each of the 
four gates of the city, with this inscription, 
" Ego mums et ubera mea quasi turris." 



THE TOWN GATES 141 

At this time Nice had four gates, the Porte 
Pairoliere on the river side, near the Pont Vieux, 
the Sea Gate, and the Porte Saint Antoine 
and the Porte Saint Eloi on the other sides of the 
town. The origin of the Pont Vieux is some- 
what obscure, but it is known that a bridge 
existed here before the thirteenth century. This, 
according to Steinbruck, was carried away by an 
extraordinary flood of the Paillon on October 
9th, 1530, and was restored in the following 
year. On the bridge was a chapel dedicated to 
Our Lady. During the siege of the town by 
Barbarossa, two arches of the Pont Vieux were 
destroyed, which were not restored until 1545, 
and these were rebuilt again some twenty years 
later. 

Dr. Davis, who describes himself as " one 
of the British captives from Verdun," and who 
seems to have been the first physician to write on 
Nice as a health resort, thus delivers himself in 
the year of grace, 1807. " The ancient splendour 
of Nice has greatly suffered from the many 
sieges it has been exposed to. The triumphal 
army of Francis I, and the fleet of the Ottoman 
pirate Barbarossa, almost consumed the town 
and destroyed its edifices. The effects of its 
deterioration were, for a while, lost sight of 
in the repairs accomplished by the generosity 



142 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of the House of Savoy, but, gradually losing its 
former consideration, and ever involved in war, 
the monastery, churches, convents, and other 
public buildings have almost all since fallen into 
decay. Anterior to the French Revolution 
Nice was infinitely more interesting than at the 
present, though its pristine magnitude and 
importance had already been considerably re- 
duced. Of its ancient suburbs there only existed 
at that period the relics, and especially of those 
which ran in a north-easterly direction from 
the gate of the Pairoliere. The extensive 
suburbs, which equally embellished the road 
on the western side of the Stone Bridge, are now 
reduced to those of the Croix de Marbre, but 
being of modern architecture, are spacious and 
lofty, and the usual residence of opulent 
strangers." This reads strangely a century later, 
when the city has spread far into the country 
both west, north, and east. 

The present port of Nice is not the original 
harbour of the town. The old harbour — known 
as the Port Saint Lambert — was at the mouth 
of the Paillon, and is mentioned as far back as 
1205, but it seems to have gradually silted up. 
In very early days it was but the roadstead 
between the river and the Castle rock, and in 
bad weather the ships were drawn up on the 



THE PORT 143 

shelving beach, just as the fisher-boats are to- 
day. In the time of Charles Emmanuel III it 
was decided to make a new harbour, which 
should be a free port, and the Duke issued a 
decree to that effect. Two projects were put 
forward, one to improve the existing harbour 
at the mouth of the Paillon, the other to create 
a new port on the other side of the Castle. This 
latter scheme was decided upon, and the new 
port was known as Lympia ; the works were 
carried out under the direction of the Comte 
de Robillant, and were completed in 1749. The 
old harbour at Saint Lambert, left to itself, 
soon entirely disappeared under the action of 
the waves. About this time the first of the 
terraces which front the sea between the market 
and the Quai du Midi was constructed ; this 
was commenced by a syndicate of house-owners 
in 1750, but was not finished till thirty years 
afterwards ; the other was built in 1844. For 
many years they were the promenade of the 
fashionable world, which congregated here every 
morning and afternoon to discuss the gossip of 
the day. But they fell on evil times, and 
became the haunt of doubtful characters, so 
that the authorities decided to close them, and 
they only come to life now when the firework 
display which marks the burning of King 



144 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Carnival is fired from their neglected alleys ; for 
the rest of the year they are barred and deserted. 
When the Palaces of Nice are to be brought to 
notice, naturally the first of them to be described 
is what is now the Hotel de la Prefecture, which 
has existed in more or less its present form for 
some three centuries. The seat of Government 
at Nice was originally established at the Chateau 
in the fortified enceinte which comprised the 
old Cathedral and other public buildings which 
have long since completely disappeared, and 
there was the residence of the Governor. But 
the various Sovereign Princes and Counts of 
Nice established their dwelling in the lower town. 
The Ducal Palace, which was situated at the foot 
of the Chateau close to Ponchettes, was destroyed 
by fire on May 8th, 1610, and the new Palace 
was built by Duke Charles Emmanuel I on a 
site belonging to the Abbey of Saint Dominic, 
which he acquired for the purpose. This was 
situated between the churches of Saint Gaetan — 
then known as the Misericorde (which still 
exists) — and that of Saint Dominic, where the 
present Palace of Justice stands. The foundation 
stone was laid in the year 1611, and the Duke 
inaugurated it in person in January, 1614. 
When the Dukes of Savoy, in 1700, took the title 
of Kings of Sardinia, it became the Royal Palace, 



HOTEL DE LA PREFECTURE 145 

by which title it was known until the French 
Revolution of 1792. It was completely sacked by 
the Republican troops called in from Antibes 
to restore order in the city, and was then turned 
into a military hospital. During the reign of 
Napoleon it once more served as a Royal Palace, 
where the Emperor himself stayed, and where 
Pope Pius VII, journeying to Paris for the 
coronation of Napoleon, was lodged. 

After Nice was restored to the kingdom of 
Sardinia it became once again a Royal abode, and 
was occupied by King Charles Albert, and by 
King Victor Emmanuel I, but was generally used 
as the residence of the Governor of the Province. 
When Nice, by the practically unanimous vote 
of its inhabitants, declared for annexation to 
the French Empire, in 1860, and became a 
French town, Napoleon III and the Empress 
Eugenie stayed there for some time, and the 
Emperor Alexander I of Russia also visited it. 
For the last fifty years it has been the official 
residence of the Prefet of the Alpes Maritimes, 
and the seat of the Government of the Depart- 
ment. 

So much for the history of the building which 
so fitly dominates the old town of Nice, facing 
the market-place, the great centre of the com- 
mercial life of the working part of its population. 



146 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

The building has, of necessity, undergone many 
enlargements and improvements from time to 
time, and it is difficult to realize that the barrack- 
like edifice shown in prints at the time of the 
annexation is the Palace, with its beautiful 
fafade and handsome loggie, which is to be seen 
to-day. The arch surmounting the main entrance 
has recently been embellished with a mass of 
handsome sculpture, a Roman galley wreathed 
with roses, with the fasces on either side bound 
and supported with oak and olive foliage, and the 
rich fruits of flora which the Riviera bears, the 
pomegranate, grape, orange, lemon, and others. 
This is due to the clever sculptor, Michel de 
Tarnowsky — whose work is well known in 
America — himself a Nicois by early adoption. 
The garden in front of it retains its old charm, 
with its big date - palms and verdant foliage, 
while the peculiarity of a public passage through 
the centre of the building still remains, recalling 
the many princely abodes in Italy where rulers 
resided in the midst of their people, who de- 
manded the freest approach to them. 

The first restoration and embellishment of the 
building took place in 1822, and it was further 
enlarged in 1862 and 1863, the year before the 
visit of the Emperor Alexander I. Since then, 
at various epochs, additions have been made, 



THE TOUR BELLANDA 147 

new galleries substituted for old constructions, 
and the existing fapade erected. During the 
present Republic three Presidents have been 
lodged at the Prefecture, Monsieur Carnot, in 
1890, Monsieur Felix Faure, in 1896, and Mon- 
sieur Fallieres, in 1909. 

The interior of the building is extremely well 
arranged for large receptions and functions of an 
official nature. A handsome monumental stair- 
case leads to the state rooms on the first floor, 
which open one from the other round the entire 
quadrangle. The grand Salle des Fetes was 
built under the regime of Monsieur Arsene 
Henry, and is beautifully painted by Leriche ; 
it is also adorned with a fine marble group by 
the sculptor Lombard. Quite recently a gallery 
has been added, decorated with paintings by 
Cheret, in which the famous artist has caught 
to the full the brilliant colour and sunlight which 
harmonize with the Nicois scenes which he has 
depicted so faithfully. 

Not far from the Prefecture may be seen the 
Tour Bellanda, the only remnant which has 
remained of the ancient fortifications of the 
Chateau. Originally the name it bears seems 
to have been derived from two Celtic words, 
" Bel," which means " fine," and " Lande," 
which is Celtic or Gaulish (ancient French) for 



148 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

" country," Bellanda, fine country, a name justi- 
fied by the glorious view obtained from it. A 
miracle is recorded as having taken place in this 
tower, when Saint Honorat saved the innocent 
Gualbore de Bellanda under the ordeal of fire, 
as is related in a very curious and popular 
Provencal poem, written by a monk of Lerins 
in the thirteenth century. The tower was 
destroyed, together with the other fortifications 
of the Chateau, in 1706, but less completely 
than the others, and it was rebuilt in 1825. 
Above it the site of the Chateau makes a pleasant 
park, and the panorama of Nice and the sur- 
rounding country, seen from its summit, is 
unequalled. The hills slope up to the north, 
covered with villas and gardens, and olive woods, 
and the bare heights of Mont Chauve stand out 
backed by a circle of snow-clad Alpine peaks, 
in strange contrast to the warmth and brilliancy 
of the landscape spread all around. 

In the heyday of its independent life Nice 
established for itself a mint, known as the 
" Zecca " — this was about the year 1529 — 
and the Dukes of Savoy coined money there 
until 1590, and again, after a short interruption, 
until 1624. Finally it was definitely suppressed 
by Duke Charles Emmanuel II, in 1651, and no 
trace of the building now remains. Of the old 




IV. STAIRCASE OF THK PALAIS LASCARIS 



PALAIS LASCARIS 149 

Palaces, long fallen from their high estate, 
and turned into tenement houses, the best 
existing specimen is the Palais Lascaris, situated 
in the Rue Droite, in the heart of the old town 
This was the family residence of that ancient 
house, which was connected with Nice as early 
as 1261, in which year Theodore Lascaris, 
Emperor of the East, who had been dethroned by 
Michael Palseologos, fled thither. He gave his 
daughter Irene in marriage to William Grimaldi, 
Count of Tenda and Ventimiglia, whose de-* 
scendants kept the name of Lascaris, and 
possessed the Countship of Tenda down to 1579. 
Here was lodged the Cardinal-Legate sent by 
the Pope to present the Golden Rose to the 
newly-wedded Queen Marie Louise of Spain, in 
1701. To-day all that remains of the former 
splendour of this great house is the battered 
grand staircase, and a couple of large saloons with 
finely painted ceilings and carvings, from which 
the gold has perished ; all else in the Palace is 
divided up into the humble homes of the lower 
strata of the population. 

The Palais Marie Christine, in the Rue de 
France, is so called from having been long 
inhabited by Queen Marie Christine, wife of 
King Charles Felix ; it has no features of either 
architectural or historical interest. Princess 



150 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Pauline Borghese (one of the sisters of Napoleon) 
lived in it at one time, and a low-built house 
close by, the Maison Barralis, was the residence 
of Marie Louise, Queen of Etruria, sent here in 
exile by Napoleon in 1810. The old Croix de 
Marbre, of which mention has already been 
made, stands before this Palace. It was removed 
in 1792, but replaced in 1810, at the expense of 
the Comtesse de Villeneuve. This quarter of 
the town was formerly called Assegnador, because 
legal proclamations and sentences were pro- 
mulgated there, according to some authorities, 
or on account of its being the place of execution 
for criminals, according to others. The white 
marble column commemorating the passing of 
Pope Pius VII also stands on this spot. 

The churches in the town of Nice itself are of 
no great interest for the memories attaching 
to them. Of the old Cathedral on the Castle 
rock no trace remains beyond the few founda- 
tions which have of late years been brought to 
light. Nor is there any record as to its appear- 
ance. Lentheric tells us that some remains of 
the marble torn from the Tower of Augustus at 
La Turbie were employed for the decoration 
of the high altar of this church, but when the 
explosion of a powder magazine threw down the 
entire nave in 1691, during the siege by De 





— 71 



■^MimbSmmsk 



* 



V. LA CROIX ]»E MARBRE 



CATHEDRAL OF ST. REPARATE 151 

Catinat, this altar was buried under a mass of 
rubbish, which was cast away as worth nothing. 
The present Cathedral of Saint Reparate is 
built on the site of a smaller church dating from 
the eleventh century, and it became the Cathedral 
in 1531. The See of Nice was founded in a.d. 250, 
and no less than seven of its occupants have been 
canonized. The first Bishop of Nice was Saint 
Bassus, who was martyred in 253. He was 
succeeded by Saint Pons, whose story has 
already been related, and who suffered martyr- 
dom in 261. The other sainted Prelates of the 
See were Saint Valerius, 433-443 ; Saint Valeri- 
anus, 443-452 ; Saint Duterius, or Deutherus, 
490-493; Saint Siagrius, 777-787; and Saint 
Anselm, 1100-1107. Another list, however, 
exists, which differs somewhat from this ; it is as 
follows : Saint Bassus, 253 ; Saint Pons, 260- 
261 ; Saint Amantius, 382 ; Saint Valerianus, 
438 ; Saint Deutherus, 468 ; Saint Siagrius, 
777 ; and Saint Anselm, 1100-1108. The church 
itself is a well-proportioned and handsome build- 
ing, such as may be met with in any Italian 
town. It was entirely restored some few years 
ago, a restoration which was effected with con- 
siderable taste, though much of the old work 
which was done away with might have been 
preserved with advantage. The organ loft was 



152 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

adorned with marble sculptures which had been 
whitewashed and painted, and these were thrown 
down in the belief that they were merely wooden, 
which, of course, caused their total destruction. 
Baring-Gould falls foul of this Cathedral, which 
he calls a rococo construction in the barbaric 
taste of its period, and he relates how, on March 
16th, 1705, a bomb fell and exploded in the nave, 
killing many people. "If it had blown the 
whole church to atoms," he adds, " it would have 
caused no loss to art ! " The bodies of Saint 
Reparate (its Patroness), of Saint Alexander, 
and of Saint Victor are piously preserved here. 
In the Treasury was, until recently, the famous 
Baiser de Paix in chased silver, with Limoges 
enamel, dating from the fifteenth century. This 
exquisite reliquary was exhibited in the Paris 
Exhibition of 1900 ; portions of it are gilt, 
and the transparent enamel is very beautiful. 
It has not yet been restored to the Treasury 
by the Ministry of Fine Arts. The chief relic 
remaining of the Cathedral is the so-called mitre 
of Saint Bassus, in Oriental tissue, which must 
have belonged to a Bishop, not of the third, 
but of the ninth or tenth centuries. 

Of all the churches of Nice, undoubtedly the 
most interesting is that of the former Franciscan 
Monastery at Cimiez, now become the parish 



THE MONASTERY OF CIMIEZ 153 

church. It is, indeed, very worthy of a visit. 
On the place in front of the facade some gigantic 
ilex trees, the pride of the Franciscan monks, 
now exiled from their old home, throw a grateful 
shade. This little piazza is further adorned 
with the famous Cross of Cimiez, although this 
has no fundamental connection with the group 
of monastic buildings with which it is now 
classed, for it was erected in Nice itself as long 
ago as June 5th, 1477, and it was the vicissitudes 
of the French Revolution which led to its ultimate 
removal to this spot. It is not only a work of art 
of great merit, but it is remarkable as being one 
of the very few extant representations of the 
Crucified Seraph of the Vision of Saint Francis 
of Assisi, for it is not a crucifix in the ordinary 
sense of the work. That Vision, unknown to 
most who look casually on the Cross, is well 
described by Montgomery Carmichael, in writing 
of La Verna in Tuscany. He tells us that early 
in the morning of September 14th, 1224, on the 
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, ere 
day had yet dawned, certain shepherds in the 
plain below saw the holy hill irradiated with a 
light as of the risen sun. And certain muleteers, 
believing that the sun had indeed risen, started 
on their journey by the Romagna, only to be 
overtaken by darkness, when that supernatural 



154, THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

light had failed. For the light came from 
heaven, and it shone upon Francis, wrapped in the 
love of God. And as he looked, he beheld a 
Seraph with six wings, descending swiftly to- 
wards him ; two of the wings hid the Angel's 
face, two others covered his body, while with the 
other two he winged his rapid flight to earth. 
And as the Seraph drew nigh, the Saint looked 
and saw that he was nailed upon a cross like the 
Lord Himself. In that heavenly visitation 
Francis was sealed with the Five Wounds of the 
Passion. His reception of the Stigmata was the 
first recorded case of such an occurrence in 
hagiography, and remains to-day the best au- 
thenticated and the most marvellous. 

The Cross is of white marble, raised on a pillar 
of the same material. Local authorities differ 
as to the name of the donor, the worn Latin 
inscription being variously rendered ; but it 
seems to have been ordered and given to the 
Monastery of Saint Francis in the old town of 
Nice, by Louis Terrini — a Minorite Friar — or 
by a Prelate, Bertin Serrazzi or Serrassi, Bishop 
of Cyrene, on June 5th, 1477. It was set up in 
front of the Franciscan Monastery, and there 
remained until the troublous times of the French 
Revolution, when, for a brief period, Nice was 
united to France. The Revolutionists cared 



THE MONASTERY OF CIMIEZ 155 

naught for works of art, and the spirit of icono- 
clasm did not spare this venerable monument, 
which was thrown down and broken. Fortu- 
nately the fragments were rescued by a man 
named Sardina, who concealed them in his 
stable. After the Concordat, on June 19th, 1804, 
a solemn procession was organized, with Sardina 
at its head, and the Cross was borne with loving 
and reverent ceremony to Cimiez, where it 
was set up before the church, and there it has 
ever since remained. The work is remarkable ; 
in the centre, facing the noonday sun, is the 
form of the Crucified Seraph. The three branches 
of the Cross on this side terminate in trefoils, 
bearing medallions respectively of Saint Francis, 
Saint Louis of Toulouse, and a pelican. In 
the centre of the other side is a Madonna, 
and on the lateral extremities are Saint Ber- 
nardine of Siena and Saint Clare. At the top is 
a representation of God the Father, holding an 
orb, symbolic of the world. 

On the wall of the columned portico of the 
church is depicted in fresco an earlier incident 
in the life of Saint Francis. Anxious to unite 
his numerous followers in a brotherhood or Order, 
he went to Rome to ask the sanction and blessing 
of the Pope. Innocent III, knowing little or 
nothing of the applicant, at first declined to 



156 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

accede to his request ; but in the night, after the 
interview, the Holy Father dreamed that he 
saw the pillars of Saint John Lateran giving way, 
and about to fall, and that Francis held them up 
with a mighty effort, and saved the building 
from destruction. In the morning the Pope 
sent for him, and, acting upon this " Signum 
cadentis ecclesise," confirmed the rule of his 
Order. 

In regard to the church itself, it stands on the 
site of the Roman Temple dedicated to Diana. 
A small chapel was built here in the eleventh 
century, which was rebuilt and enlarged some 
four hundred years later, and became a monastery 
of the Franciscan Monks of Nice, who settled 
themselves there in the sixteenth century, after 
the destruction of their monastery in the town 
by Barbarossa, in 1543. The eighteenth-century 
fafade is fantastic and unpleasing, but within the 
church is beautiful. The high altar of inlaid 
marble is of exquisite workmanship, and the 
quaint carved and gilded reredos behind it is 
both curious and pleasing. The low vaulted roof 
is covered with paintings, chiefly of Franciscan 
Saints, and incidents in the life of Saint Francis. 
The church possesses three altar-pieces by the 
great Nicois painter, Ludovic Brea. Of these 
the retable in three panels is the most remark- 



THE MONASTERY OF CIMIEZ 157 

able ; the centre one represents Our Lady of 
Sorrows kneeling by the dead Christ, with an 
interesting view of the Chateau of Nice as it was 
at that epoch, and the side ones bear the figures 
of Saint Martin of Tours, and of Saint Catherine 
of Alexandria. The other two altar-pieces are 
equally noble in conception and rich in colour- 
ing ; all three were given to the Franciscans 
by the illustrious Philippe de Villiers de PIsle 
Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Saint 
John of Jerusalem, in 1529, when he left Nice, 
where he had resided since the capture of Rhodes, 
in 1522. They were saved at the destruction by 
Barbarossa of the monastery in the town, and 
were brought here in 1546, when the Franciscans 
took possession of the church, which had been 
given them by the Benedictines in exchange for 
the site of their destroyed Monastery of Holy 
Cross. The outer cloister has a quaint well in the 
centre, and is hung all round with gruesome 
woodcuts representing the martyrdoms of the 
various Franciscan Saints. In the inner one 
a deserted garden weaves a thick tangle round 
the rose bushes, and all is silence and decay. 
From the monastic gardens beyond may be 
seen the finest view of Nice to be obtained 
anywhere ; the town spread out below, the 
hills clothed with their suburbs, and the Bay of 



158 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Angels stretching out towards the distant head- 
land of Antibes, and the far Esterel Mountains — 
all this in the foreground — while behind are 
the snow-clad summits of the Alps, the bald crest 
of Mont Chauve, with Mont Agel and the Berceau 
rising far to the heavens towards the east, and 
in the valley the Paillon wending its devious 
way from the mountain gorges to the sea. 
This old garden was closured to the world for 
centuries, and no woman's foot was allowed 
to pass its gates. The Empress Eugenie and 
Queen Victoria were the sole exceptions in the 
last century — until the monks were driven out, 
the kindly old brown-robed men who lived 
for charity and well-doing, whose home was 
confiscated with thousands of others under the 
baldest of pretexts of political necessity. Where- 
ever else in France the monks may have been a 
menace to the development of the State, it was 
not at Cimiez that these poor followers of the 
rule of Saint Francis did aught but good. Their 
peaceful garden and its ilex grove are given over 
to the noisy beanfeaster on holidays, and the 
restfulness and quiet charm of the old-world 
spot has fled for ever. 

As we bid a lingering farewell to the monastery, 
an Italian inscription painted in the porch must 
be noticed ; here is the translation of it : " Cimiez, 



THE MONASTERY OF ST. PONS 159 

a Greek colony, strengthened with Roman blood, 
rich in monuments pagan and Christian, the civic 
and religious capital of the Maritime Alps, 
had Saint Barnabas for its Apostle, and gave 
two martyrs to Spain, who became its immortal 
protectors. Alboin burnt it, Charlemagne raised 
it from its ruins, and erected it into a county " ; 
and on the other side of the door : " This 
church was built on the ruins of the Temple 
of Diana, about the ninth century. The first 
sanctuary of the Virgin Mary in the Maritime 
Alps. In the sixteenth century it was handed 
over by the monks of Saint Benedict to the 
Franciscan Fathers. Enlarged since then, and 
embellished with a fapade and frescoes : witness 
of the piety of the departed, a promise and an 
inspiration for those who shall come after. 
1858." 

On an eminence by the side of the Paillon, 
down below the monastery of Cimiez, is the 
famous Abbey of Saint Pons. It was built in 775 
by Saint Siagrius, Bishop of Nice, who was the 
son of Carloman, and nephew of Charlemagne, on 
the very spot where occurred the martyrdom of 
Saint Pons, in the year 261. The early Abbots of 
Saint Pons were not under the jurisdiction of the 
Bishop of Nice, and bore the title of Counts of 
Cimiez, conferred first on Saint Siagrius by 



160 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Charlemagne ; no monk could be admitted to 
the monastery who was unable to show proofs of 
aoble descent. Charlemagne covered the Abbey 
with favours, and stayed there on two occasions, 
the first time when he returned from Italy in 777, 
after crushing the power of the Lombards, and 
their King Desiderius, when he is said to have 
opened the coffin of Saint Pons, and to have 
found the body therein, but without the head, 
a statement that does not tally with the legends 
previously related of angelic intervention after 
his martyrdom. Charlemagne stayed here again 
in the year 800, when he went to Rome to be 
crowned Emperor of the West ; and a stone 
found in excavating bears an inscription of 
which the words " Domino Karolo " can be 
deciphered, which are supposed to make some 
allusion to these visits. The monastery and its 
buildings were destroyed in 970 by the Saracens, 
but were rebuilt some thirty years later by 
Fredonius, Bishop of Nice. Subterranean passages 
are believed to connect it with the monastery 
on the hill above, but all trace of them has 
long been lost. Recently some important finds 
were made here, showing the existence of a 
Gallo-Roman cemetery, and a fine stone sarco- 
phagus was disinterred, in which a number of 
pins, brooches, and objects of personal adorn- 



MONASTERY OF ST. BARTHELEMY 161 

ment were discovered ; all of these are now to 
be seen in the town Museum. But, like the 
monastery of Cimiez, " Ichabod " must be written 
over the Abbey of Saint Pons ; it is in even 
worse plight to-day, for its church is closed, 
and fast falling to decay, while the cloisters 
where the monks lived their quiet lives are 
turned into auxiliary wards for the city hospital, 
and new and hideous buildings for the same 
purpose have been built right up to its walls. 
It would have been better to let the old Abbey 
vanish with its memories into the night of 
history. 

A third once famous monastery still exists in 
little better plight, that of Saint Barthelemy — 
now the parish church of the quarter. It was 
founded in 520, and the Knights of Malta gave 
the church a statue of the Madonna. There 
is nothing of interest left in it now, with the 
exception of a couple of good pictures by masters 
of the Nicois school. The old tower has been 
pulled down, but the new one which has arisen 
in its stead — if not adapted to the rest of the 
architecture of the building — is still not an 
unpleasing figure in the landscape. It is related 
that Meyerbeer, when staying in Nice, one day 
took a walk in the direction of Saint Barthelemy, 
and came to the monastery. He asked some 



162 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

peasants whom he met to tell him where he was. 
They replied that it was the Monastery of Saint 
Barthelemy. Hearing this, the imagination of 
the great composer was stirred, and the idea 
came to compose that great opera of his, " Les 
Huguenots," which he shortly afterwards put 
into execution. Of the other churches in the town 
there is not much to be said ; that of Saint 
Augustine, now destroyed, was famous from 
the fact that Martin Luther celebrated Mass 
there on June 20th, 1524, when he was passing 
through Nice, and Massena was baptized in it. 
The monastery was converted into the present 
barracks. 

As to other old buildings of interest, they 
may be counted on the fingers, for the craze of 
destruction has, of late years, been rampant, 
and the ancient must give way to the modern ; 
while that device of the Evil One, the " plan 
rectificateur" must assimilate the streets and 
boulevards of Nice to geometrical accuracy of 
proportion. Of the old inns of Nice but one 
remains, and that transmogrified out of all 
recognition ; the Chapeau Vert, on the Boule- 
vard MacMahon. Its sign to-day shows a green 
Tyrolese hat with a jaunty feather, but the 
meaning of it is quite different. As Cardinals 
wore hats with tassels of scarlet, so did Bishops 



OLD INNS 163 

have theirs adorned with tassels of green, and this 
was probably so called from the site being one 
of the halting-points of the religious processions 
in which the Bishops of Nice so frequently took 
part, naturally wearing the green hat as part 
of their official outdoor costume. The Chapeau 
Rouge, where Cardinals may have stayed, on 
the other side of the river, which had come to 
be a mere drinking-house for country carters, 
was pulled down in 1910 to make way for the 
extension of the Lycee buildings. 

There is a fine old building in the Pare Imperial 
Quarter, formerly standing in the centre of a 
large park, which served as a hunting-box of the 
Dukes of Savoy. Now it is built round, and 
cut up into tenements. Except a graceful 
loggia, it shows no sign of its former greatness, 
and is doubtless soon destined to disappear. 



CHAPTER VIII 

The history of Nice and its worthies written in the names of its 
streets, squares, and public places — The Chateau de Montboron — 
The English and Russian churches. 

THE history of a town is written in the names 
of its streets, and though a sudden national 
upheaval may oftentimes sweep away old land- 
marks, yet they usually continue to exist on the 
lips of the people, although they are no longer 
officially recognized. Such a case is to be seen in 
almost every town in Italy, where the ancient 
designations of the principal thoroughfares have 
almost universally been re-baptized after Victor 
Emmanuel and Garibaldi. Yet who ever speaks 
of anything but the Corso in Rome or the Toledo 
at Naples ? The old names cling, and it takes a 
long time to obliterate them. In Nice there has 
been a strong tendency of late years to abolish 
the names of streets called after Saints. In the 
old days of piety, we can easily understand that 
the Patron of the parish church gave his name 
as a rule to the street in which it stood ; but the 
modern view, which is, after all, reasonable enough, 

is that the churches in themselves sufficiently re- 

164 



NICE AND ITS WORTHIES 165 

present the names of the Saints they bear, and that 
the thoroughfares of the town should, as a general 
rule, perpetuate the memories of those departed 
worthies who wrought for its welfare, or of the 
events connected with the actual site. So we 
shall see in this chapter, not only how the world- 
famous names of Sovereigns and generals, and 
such big people are preserved, but also how the 
memory of the lesser lights who helped to make 
history in Nice are kept green ; while that 
history itself will often be elucidated by re- 
calling the successive appellations of streets 
and squares during succeeding generations and 
epochs. 

At the present day in Nice, three names stand 
out before all others in street nomenclature, 
those of Garibaldi, Massena, and Gambetta. 
Let us take the Place Garibaldi first, for since 
Nice overflowed the walls of the old city it has 
been the chief spot for historical events. It was 
created in 1780, by King Victor Amadeus III of 
Sardinia, and was called after him. It became 
the Place Napoleon when the great Corsican 
rose to power ; later it was the Place de la 
Republique, and ultimately it became the Place 
Garibaldi. In 1796 Bonaparte reviewed his 
army — which he was later to lead all over 
Europe — on this spot ; and here, too, in 1860, 



166 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Comte de Malaussena, the then Maire, offered 
the keys of the town to Napoleon III, just after 
the signature of the Treaty which made it 
French once more. 

Massena, " l'Enfant cheri de la Victoire," shares 
with Garibaldi the honour of having his statue 
erected on the spot named after him ; both were 
born in Nice, and of both are the Nicois equally 
proud. Gambetta has recently been added to 
form the trio, and has also been honoured with a 
statue. The " Great Tribune," who died in 1882, 
lies buried in the cemetery at the Chateau. His 
name, which has already been bestowed on a 
boulevard, made in 1884, on the occasion of the 
International Exhibition of Nice, has now been 
given as well to the place where his statue 
stands, displacing the memory of Beatrix, Count- 
ess of Provence, and loved by the Nicois to whom 
she granted many privileges, and who died in the 
year 1245. That Gambetta should not monopo- 
lize too much of Nice, the garden formerly called 
after him, on the Boulevard Victor Hugo, now 
bears the name of that King of Wurtemberg, 
Charles I, for whose pleasure it was made, when 
he spent the winter here in 1888. 

Other Sovereigns are duly commemorated, who 
have been bound up with the later history of 
Nice. The two approaches to the hotel at 



CHATEAU DE MONTBORON 167 

Cimiez, where Queen Victoria lived, are respec- 
tively named Avenue Victoria and Avenue 
Regina. Close by, parallel boulevards bear the 
designation of Edward VII and Prince de Galles, 
in grateful souvenir of the regretted founder of the 
Entente Cordiale. Lower down the hill, a road 
where he often walked is called after King 
Leopold II of the Belgians. The Boulevard de 
l'lmperatrice at the port recalls the visit of the 
Empress Marie Alexandrowna of Russia in 1857. 
The lower road to Villefranche, hard by, was 
commenced during her visit, and the Empress 
presided at a fete held on the occasion when Her 
Majesty cut a green ribbon stretched across the 
road with a pair of golden scissors, which were 
presented to her on a silver platter by the 
Syndic of the town. This road was not inau- 
gurated until shortly after the annexation of 
Nice to France. It is now known as the Boule- 
vard Carnot, in memory of the visit of President 
Carnot, shortly before his assassination. The 
curious Chateau de Montboron, at the top of it, 
was built by an Englishman, one Colonel Smith, 
some half-century ago. It is an extraordinary- 
looking pink building, unlike anything ever seen 
before or since on this coast ; scarcely a room in 
it is square, most of them are round, octagonal, 
or other odd shapes. Colonel Smith had made 



168 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

a large fortune in India, and this was the third 
similar palace which he built in different parts of 
Europe — the general design is believed to have 
been taken from the battlements of Delhi. He 
never lived to finish it, and the property was 
bought and completed some years after, by the 
late Count Gurowski, who filled it with a great 
collection of art treasures, and whose son now 
lives there. 

Another Imperial guest of Nice is commem- 
orated in the Boulevard de Tzarewitch. It was 
at the Villa Bermond where the Tzarewitch 
Nicholas, son of Alexander II of Russia, died in 
1865. The house was pulled down with the 
exception of the room in which death took place, 
which was rebuilt as a Memorial Chapel ; the 
altar marking the exact spot. The building 
itself is a gem, and cost no less than thirteen 
thousand pounds. It is in the Byzantine style, 
built in granite and marble of various colours. 
The great door of bronze, set in an archway of 
pure Carrara marble, leads into the interior, 
filled from floor to ceiling with exquisite pictures, 
frescoes, and mosaics, and flooded with a rosy 
light from the painted glass in the cupola above. 
The arrangement of the subjects is incongruous, 
Saint Nicholas, the young Grand Duke's Patron 
Saint, holding the position of honour. The new 



ENGLISH & RUSSIAN CHURCHES 169 

Russian church rises but a few yards away from 
the chapel, and the former gardens of the Villa 
Bermond are now filled with villas, and known 
as the Pare Imperial. It is interesting to recall 
that the fiance of the Tzarewitch Nicholas, 
Princess Dagmar of Denmark (sister of Queen 
Alexandra), afterwards became the bride of his 
brother, Alexander III, and is the mother of the 
Emperor Nicholas II. 

The Place Alziary de Malaussena is still 
usually known by its former name of Place 
Anglicane, or Place du Temple Anglican, for the 
worthy Maire whom it now commemorates is 
remembered in other ways. The history of the 
English church in Nice is an interesting one. 
Towards the latter part of the eighteenth century 
an Englishman was drowned in crossing a torrent 
close to the sea where is now the Boulevard 
Gambetta. The British residents bought land 
there to bury him, and to serve in future as a 
small cemetery, and it was consecrated — or 
perhaps only dedicated — in 1780. In 1815 leave 
was obtained from the Sardinian Government to 
make a new cemetery, and to erect a chapel 
therein. This was permitted on condition that 
the chapel should be as little like an ecclesiastical 
building as possible. In consequence Trinity 
Churchyard was laid out, and an ugly villa-like 



170 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

structure was designed to serve as a church. 
The authorization for the celebration of the 
services of the Church of England to be conducted 
therein dates from the year 1821, and in the 
Consular Records an entry appears on July 10th, 
1821, which says, " The building of the church 
commences next week, and will be completed by 
the first week in November." Dean Hole tells us 
that the authorization was grudgingly given by 
His Majesty the King of Sardinia, at the solicita- 
tion of " the excellent Lady Olivia Sparrow," on 
the express condition (so it was commanded in the 
Royal Patent) that the building should not bear, 
either within or without, the slightest resem- 
blance to a church. Protestantism was not in 
favour in those days. " I have seen," writes one 
of the French chroniclers of Nice, about this 
time, " the funeral processions of Protestants 
hooted and pelted with stones by a populace 
blind enough to offer insult to the dead, and to 
the mourners in their sore distress." 

The present church of the Holy Trinity replaced 
the first miserable makeshift in 1856. The 
original design of it was a very ambitious one, 
and in addition to the actual nave, transepts, an 
apse and tower were to have been provided ; 
but it was thought more desirable to devote the 
money collected for this purpose to the building 



THE JARDIN PUBLIC 171 

of a second church at Carabacel, and Christ 
Church was therefore erected, instead of com- 
pleting the original scheme in regard to Holy 
Trinity. A third Anglican place of worship is 
the little chapel at Cimiez, used by Queen 
Victoria during her sojourns there, which is open 
during the season. The Americans and Presby- 
terians have handsome edifices for their followers 
in the Boulevard Victor Hugo. The Promenade 
des Anglais, that unequalled road which fringes 
the Bay of Angels for close on four miles, is of 
special interest to us, for its name shows the long 
connection of the English Colony with the 
town. It is recorded that it was made in the 
year 1821, as the result of a subscription by the 
English people in Nice, to provide work for the 
unemployed that winter, which was a particu- 
larly severe one. 

The Jardin Public, which branches off from it, 
has entirely changed its character since the 
covering in of the Paillon. In olden days it was 
an extensive marsh, where people shot snipe and 
wildfowl ; then it became, in the course of years, 
a quaint archaic garden, with a moss-grown 
fountain in its centre, filled with gold-fish, and 
surrounded by stone benches set under the 
drooping foliage of ancient pepper trees. Here, 
in 1863, a great fete was given by the English 



172 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Colony, in honour of the marriage of the Prince 
of Wales and the Princess Alexandra, and the 
illuminations are said to have surpassed any- 
thing ever seen at that epoch. But with the 
necessary covering of the river all this was 
changed, a broad road driven through the centre 
abolished the fountain and its pepper trees, and 
a more open style of landscape gardening took 
their place. Of late years statues have been 
erected at various points, especially the imposing 
monument of the Centenary of the Annexation 
of Nice to France, and everything has been 
embellished and beautified. But the chief trea- 
sure of the garden is the beautiful Fountain of 
the Tritons, which was brought hither by the 
Imperial family of Lascaris, when they were 
driven out of Constantinople, in the thirteenth 
century ; this passed through many hands until 
it was presented to the town by the last of the 
Comtes Arson. The Avenue des Phoceens, which 
runs along behind the fountain, is said to be the 
spot where the Phocseans landed about 600 B.C., 
after their victory over the Carthaginians and 
Tyrrhenians in neighbouring waters. 

The Quai du Midi, which continues the Promen- 
ade des Anglais to the east, lined with its superb 
row of palm trees, terminates at the harbour, 
skirting round the Castle rock at the turning 



PONCHETTES 173 

known as Raiiba Capeu (hat-thief), where the 
wind plays havoc with promenaders, coming 
along with a sudden gust to deprive the unwary 
passer-by of his hat, and ends at Ponchettes. 
This is so called from the Nicois word pounchetta 
(little point), on account of the jagged rocks 
which fringe the sea here. The statue of King 
Charles Felix stands near by, looking lonely 
and out of date amid the hurrying motor traffic 
which is perpetually passing. 

The Quai des Deux Emmanuel recalls the name 
of the Sovereigns Charles Emmanuel I and 
Charles Emmanuel III, who ordered the con- 
struction of the new port of Nice. The name of 
the Rue Paradis has often caused comment, for 
it is the most sunless and windy street of any in 
the new town ; but as a matter of fact, it is so 
called, not from any celestial association, but 
after a certain Mademoiselle Paradis, who was 
the proprietress of the land on which it was 
built. 

The Place Saint Dominique was laid out in 
1724, on the ground known as the Goose Market ; 
when the Terror swept over Nice the guillotine 
was set up here, and worked with regularity 
every day. Yet the authorities found time 
between condemning batches of so-called crim- 
inals to execution to sweep away the names 



174 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of the streets and squares of the town wherever 
they appeared to be in any way connected with 
religion. With ferocious irony new appellations 
were invented, and Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, 
Indivisibility, Justice, Morality, Wisdom, Re- 
generation, Glory, Salubrity, Fecundity, Truth, 
and Fortune took the places of the Patron Saints 
of the town ; Saint Dominique giving way to 
Equality ! The Cours Saleya, where the market 
is held, is called after the Saleyans, who were the 
first tribes established in the Maritime Alps ; 
and to point out the site of the ancient Portus 
Salea, of which we have no actual knowledge. 
The Cite du Pare, between the terraces, recalls 
the Arsenal, established there by King Charles 
of Anjou, in the first years of the fourteenth 
century. The Rue Saint Francois de Paule, 
which joins it to the Public Garden, contains the 
Municipal Library of over three-quarters of a 
million volumes ; as well as the Municipal 
Opera House, now, thanks to recent improve- 
ments, one of the finest in France. Its pre- 
decessor on the same site was totally destroyed 
by fire, with great loss of life, on March 23rd, 
1881. That again had taken the place, in 1830, 
of an earlier theatre, known as the Theatre 
Maccarani, which dated back to 1766. The 
church of Saint Francois de Paule, on the opposite 



THE OLD TOWN 175 

side of the street, was used as a recruiting office 
during the French Revolution. 

The Avenue de la Gare, now the main street of 
Nice, was only built in 1865, to connect the new 
railway with the Place Massena, which was then, 
as now, the centre of local activity. The name 
came naturally enough when the railway was a 
novelty, but has since been felt to be very 
inadequate, yet, strange to say, when a local 
newspaper recently opened a plebiscite to suggest 
a better appellation, not a single name was 
suggested which met with the slightest degree of 
popular favour. 

It is, of course, the streets of the old town 
which bear the most interesting names, though 
many of these have been altered of late years. 
A good example is the Rue Benoit Bunico ; this 
was originally the Ghetto, and in the French 
Revolution became the Rue de la Regeneration ; 
when, by the Statute of 1848, King Charles 
Albert gave the right of citizenship to the 
Jewish inhabitants, it was transformed into the 
Rue du Statut. This somewhat colourless name 
was again altered later on to the Rue Benoit 
Bunico, to recall the name of the Depute for Nice 
at the time the Statute was promulgated. In 
the Middle Ages here, as elsewhere, the various 
trades usually monopolized separate streets, so 



176 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

we have the Rue de la Pairoliere (from the Nicois 
word pairou, sl caldron), where the copper- 
smiths dwelt. At its entrance was formerly a 
pentagonal tower, which dominated the gate 
which opened here in the town walls. The Rue 
de la Croix contains the chapel of the same name, 
founded by the Cordeliers, who formerly gave 
their name to the street. The present Rue 
Sainte Reparate was, at one time, the upper half 
the Draperia (street of the drapers), and the 
lower the Fustaria (street of the carpenters). 
The rope-makers, the coopers, the locksmiths, 
and the armourers were similarly commemorated. 
Then there was the Cannebiere (like the famous 
street at Marseilles), derived from canebe, the 
patois for hemp, where the rope-walks were set 
up ; and the Sabateria, the street of the shoe- 
makers. The Rue de FArc was the abode of the 
armourers and the cross-bow makers. In the 
Rue du Senat (where the Court of Appeal 
formerly sat) was a stone called the pierre des 
faillis, where bankrupts were placed, and 
solemnly kicked head over heels off it three 
times by the public executioner. The Rue de la 
Loge was so called from the loggia, where goods 
seized by process of law were formerly sold by 
public auction. The old Hotel de Ville, now the 
Bourse du Travail, in the Place Saint Francois, 



AUTHORS AND POETS 177 

was originally the Monastery of Saint Jean 
Baptiste. 

In the modern town the streets are named in 
groups, some uninteresting enough, others as 
full of information as those in the old town. 
There is a dull district named after European 
countries, England, Italy, Belgium, etc., and 
Verdi, Mozart, Halevy, Gounod, and Meyerbeer 
form a musical quintet who have little or no 
continued connection with the town. But the 
other groups are more satisfactory. The writers 
are the most numerous. There is Alphonse 
Karr, the literary market - gardener ; Louis 
Durante, the famous Nicois author, whose 
works include " Tlistoire de Nice depuis la 
fondation jusqu' a l'annee 1792," and the 
" Chorographie du Comte de Nice " ; Gioffredo, 
a still more celebrated historian of the Maritime 
Alps ; Andrioli, a poet and historian, born at 
Nice in 1766, who died at Turin in 1838 ; Badat, 
one of a very old Nicois family which has given 
to the town Governors and Bishops as well ; 
Bottero, Secretary of State to Prince Maurice of 
Savoy, 1648, and author of a " History of the 
County of Nice," and a " History of the Siege in 
1543 " ; Cais de Gillette, and Cai's de Pierlas, 
one of the oldest of Nicois families, dating from 
the thirteenth century (Comte Eugene Cai's de 



178 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Pierlas published many historical works on 
Nice) ; Blacas, poet and man of war, whose 
valour is still proverbial in the country ; Cluvier, 
the geographer ; Shakespere and Smollett ; and 
Sulzer, the German savant, who published a well- 
known book on Nice in 1766. 

Soldiers include Pertinax, the Roman Emperor ; 
Miron, once Governor of Nice ; and Gamier, 
who was appointed General here on the 28th of 
Germinal in the year II ; and famous sailors 
are Joseph Bavastro, born in 1760, died in 
Algiers in 1833 ; Gallean, who sustained a 
glorious struggle about the end of the fifteenth 
century, against the naval forces of the Republic 
of Genoa, with some small galleys constructed 
for the town of Nice at his own expense, and 
Provana, a Nicois Admiral, who distinguished 
himself in the naval battle which took place in 
the Gulf of Lepanto. The artists are not 
forgotten in this goodly company : Ludovic 
Brea, the great Nicois painter ; Biscarra ; 
Castel ; and the modern artists, Cyrille Besset 
and Pierre Comba. Felix Ziem, Turner's illus- 
trious pupil, still waits for the honour of being 
godfather to a street in the town where he had 
been a welcome guest for close on three-quarters 
of a century. Other famous names we meet are 
those of Assalit, First Consul of Nice in 1108 ; 



ROYAL VISITORS 179 

Ferrero, born here in 1682, Cardinal and States- 
man ; Adelaide, named after Madame, eldest 
daughter of Louis XV ; Queen Joanna, whose 
history has already been related ; Candia, Gover- 
nor of Nice in 1834, and father of the famous 
tenor Mario ; and George Washington, que diable 
fait-il dans cette galere ? 

The Rue de France was so named from its being 
formerly the highway leading towards the French 
frontier ; it has seen many Royal personages 
as its guests. In 1810 Queen Marie Louise of 
Etruria inhabited the Maison Barralis, and Queen 
Hortense the Maison Avigdor ; more recently, 
Queen Marie Christine occupied the Villa Manotti. 
In 1830 the Dey of Algiers lived at the Maison 
Dalmas, which was occupied later on by Meyer- 
beer. In 1851 the Empress Marie Alexandrowna 
of Russia lodged at the Villa Stirbey ; and King 
Louis I of Bavaria inhabited the Villa Lions, 
where he died on February 29th, 1868. The 
death of Halevy occurred at a house in this 
street. The quarter of Baumettes, at the further 
end of it, seems to have derived its name from 
some small grottos or caves which may once 
have existed here. Another quarter of the town 
which has a name of uncertain derivation is 
Brancolar, which in Nicois means " totter," but 
the connection is not evident. It is, of course, 



180 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

an impossibility to mention all the names of the 
thoroughfares of the town and its suburbs, but 
enough has been said to show the continued 
connection by this laudable means, of the modern 
city with its historical past. 



I 

\ 



CHAPTER IX 

Legends of the country-side — The caterpillars of Contes— The Devil's 
Bridge at Eze — The capture of the Evil One by the Man of 
Contes. 

IT is a well-known fact that, in the Middle 
Ages, animals were often made defendants 
in law-suits both civil and criminal, and the 
records of many of these trials have been pre- 
served. One of the most curious exists in the 
archives of the village of Contes, and this has 
been brought to light by Monsieur Dominique 
Durandy, in his book entitled " L'Ane de Gorbio." 
The story is worth repetition as throwing con- 
siderable light on the state of mind not only 
of the peasantry of the County of Nice at the 
opening of the sixteenth century, but also of their 
betters. 

On the first Sunday in May, 1508, Louis 
Verani, the Consul of the Commune of Contes, 
received a deputation of peasants, who com- 
plained to him of the ravages made through all 
the country-side by vast swarms of caterpillars. 
So far no methods had been efficacious in 
destroying them ; the priests had blessed the 



182 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

threatened fields, bonfires had been lit, and 
supplications offered to the Almighty that the 
caterpillars, attracted by the flames, might 
immolate themselves therein ; a general fast 
had been observed during three days in the latter 
part of April by the entire village. All to no 
purpose, the tuora (as the peasants called them) 
continued to eat up every living thing, from 
the young shoots of the vines to the tough foliage 
of the stone pines on the mountain-sides. When 
autumn should arrive there would be no pears 
or apples to store for the coming winter, and 
during the summer they would be deprived of 
the plums and peaches which were a source of 
profit as well as of enjoyment. 

The worthy official was nonplussed, and sent 
for the cure to give his advice in the matter, 
judging that as it was he who had ordered the 
inefficacious prayers and fastings, so now it was 
incumbent on him to find some other means of 
putting an end to the scourge. The cure replied 
that he had thought deeply over the matter, 
and had consulted the works of various theo- 
logians to see what was to be done. His re- 
searches had impressed him with the firm con- 
viction that the caterpillars were certainly the 
daughters and emissaries of the Devil. Had not 
God said to the serpent, " Because thou hast done 



LEGENDS OF THE COUNTRY-SIDE 183 

this, thou art accursed among all living creatures 
and all animals of the earth " ? And again, in 
Deuteronomy, " Thou shalt sow in abundance, 
and thou shalt garner little, for the locusts shall 
eat everything up. Thou shalt dig the vine, 
and shalt gather nothing from it, for it shall be 
eaten up by worms." Through the prayer of 
Moses the plague of locusts was dispersed. 
Why should not the same proceeding deliver 
the inhabitants of Contes from the caterpillars ? 
In the circumstances, could not the Bishop of 
Nice be invited to undertake the part of inter- 
cessor which Moses had so successfully filled ? 
It behoved them to acquaint their Reverend 
Father-in- God of the woes which his faithful 
children were suffering ; His Lordship could then, 
by employing a severe form of exorcism, stay 
the tuora from their depredations, and send 
them away in docile and repentant mood, far 
from the country-side which they were now 
devastating. The cure's advice was accepted 
with enthusiasm, and the procureur of the city of 
Nice was charged to draw up a humble petition 
of the inhabitants of Contes, and to sustain 
the request therein contained before the Bishop's 
Tribunal. 

The aforesaid procureur, Isnard Sismondini, 
thereupon drew up a document in wonted form, 



184 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

addressed to the judge who presided over the 
Tribunal as delegate of " The Bishop of Nice, 
Comte de Drap, Reverend Father in Christ, and 
Prelate by the Grace of God." The text of the 
petition, which is still preserved in the archives 
of Contes, runs as follows : 

" The year 1508, the twenty-second day of 
May, before you, Reverend Seigneur Vicar and 
Official of Nice, or your Lieutenant, sitting of 
right in his Tribunal. 

" We, Isnard Sismondini, procureur, in the 
name of the community, of the men, and of all 
persons of the district of Contes, for the right 
and interest of the said community and of its 
inhabitants. 

" As it is of importance to the said community 
that the foliage of the country-side, the leaves 
of the vines and the hemp, the gardens, and all 
plants which serve for the use of men, and which 
are destined to this end, be neither devastated 
nor eaten, nor gnawed to the damage, prejudice, 
and ruin of the said men of the aforesaid com- 
munity, and in the same public interest. 

" We state and expose our complaint, in the 
name of the said private persons, and the men 
of the aforesaid community desirous of giving 
their support, since public rumour reports things 
which cannot be concealed, and without any 
equivocation. By persons worthy of faith, and 
existing as notorious facts, to wit, that certain 



CATERPILLARS OF CONTES 185 

animals or worms, called eruga, or tuora in the 
vulgar tongue, have presumed to destroy and 
devastate by eating and gnawing, in the said 
territory of the aforesaid district of Contes, the 
branches and leaves of the hedges, the shoots 
of the vines, and the young growth of the hemp, 
and the plants in the gardens destined and pro- 
duced by Divine Providence, by the care of men, 
and by Nature according to God's ordinance, for 
the nourishment and use of men, and that they 
have eaten and gnawed them unduly and un- 
justly, to the great damage and prejudice of the 
said community, and of the men in it ; and 
seeing that against the said animals or worms, 
eruga, or tuora, men can by no means watch or 
provide that they be not harmful in consequence 
to the said vines, to the hemp, and to the 
gardens, but that this can only be done under 
Divine guidance, by the intervention of the 
ordained ministers of God, priests of Divine 
justice, preferably officers of justice of spiritual 
order, to whom power has been given by God to 
destroy creeping things of this kind, and likewise 
other harmful animals, as our Saviour Jesus 
Christ expressed in this most sacred word, when 
He said, ' They shall drive out serpents in My 
name.' 

" Moreover, on that account the undersigned 
humbly requests in addressing himself to the 
Divine commiseration, foreseeing and powerful, 
and to the ordained ministers and mediators of 



186 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

God, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom has been 
given power to tread under foot and to drive 
out serpents, and, consequently, other devouring 
animals or worms (as it is written in the Gospel 
according to Saint Luke, where this power to 
expel and turn away such harmful animals is 
applied to good spiritual ends by the invoca- 
tion of the Holy Name) ; the undersigned prays 
that the said harmful animals may be driven out, 
to the end that they do no more harm, having 
recourse to the Divine commiseration, that is to 
say, to the servants of Christ. 

" In consequence, the undersigned addresses 
himself to you President, Reverend Seigneur, as 
Vicar and Official, in the name of those in 
question, who make appeal to the authority 
which has been granted to you, so that you may 
judge us worthy of obtaining, by the invocation 
of the name of God, the right to prohibit, and to 
nterdict to the said animals (eruga, or tuora) the 
access to the fields, to require and adjure them 
to betake themselves out of the said regions, 
so that they no longer come in future to harm the 
vines, crops, trees, and gardens, and to employ 
to this effect the power granted and assigned 
to you by God, and by the means which shall 
appear to you to be the best." 

The President in question, appointed by the 
Bishop of Nice to preside over the Tribunal, 
was not only an eminent lawyer, but also a 



CATERPILLARS OF CONTES 187 

subtle theologian. He speedily replied to the 
request that had been placed before him, in the 
following learned and picturesque terms. 

" We, Barthelemy Caroli, Doctor-in-law, ap- 
pointed and deputed as judge and representative 
on behalf of the Reverend Father in Christ, His 
Lordship Monseigneur Augustin Ferrari, by the 
Grace of God and of the Apostolic See elected 
Bishop and Count of Nice in spiritual and 
temporal matters. 

" To the Chaplains, Cures, Priests without cures, 
and to all other Priests in the diocese of Nice, 
greeting in Our Lord, Who is the true salvation 
of all, for the Lord, seated on His eternal throne, 
governs the world in sure fashion, and it is our 
God, and none other, Who has established all 
things in weights and measures, as aforetimes 
the worthy Noah who built an ark of three 
storeys, wherein wild animals lived according to 
their custom, and mixed not with other animals, 
to whom no harm consequently ensued. In fact, 
it is no vain ordinance of God which has set 
bounds for all animals, so that they mix them- 
selves up in no way with what pertains to man. 
It has been written that he shall not reap who 
soweth not, that every man should live by his 
substance, and by his work, that the animal 
creation should not trouble the works of man, 
nor devour that which he has sown, and at which 
he has laboured, and that they should remain 



188 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

in the terrestrial boundaries which have been 
assigned to them to live out their own lives ; 
in consideration of which, as on the part of 
the population in general, and of each person in 
particular, in the district of Contes, who have 
fields of hemp, other crops and gardens in the 
territory in the aforesaid community of Contes, 
it has been respectfully brought before us, and 
shown that certain wild animals, called tuora, 
devour the crops of hemp, garden stuff, vines, 
and other products necessary to men, sown and 
cultivated for their use, and exert themselves to 
destroy them, and cease not to do so, to the 
detriment and prejudice of these men, of public 
interest, and of the rights of the Church, which 
takes from them its due tithe. 

" For these reasons, on the instance of the said 
syndics of the community of Contes, of the 
inhabitants, and of all the community of the 
said district, requiring us urgently in the name 
of them all to provide a fitting remedy. 

" We then, in our official capacity, since in 
regard to the supplicants neither you nor any of 
yours have refused or refrained from assent, we 
ordain and command you by these presents to 
betake yourselves to suitable places, and that 
one of you, wearing his sacerdotal vestments, 
shall summon three times, canonically and 
peremptorily, and shall require of the aforesaid 
animals, called tuora, who are devastating the 
said crops, if they can be served personally, 



CATERPILLARS OF CONTES 189 

that they shall betake themselves into some 
other spot where they can live, and where they 
shall be obliged to remain in future. 

" And that they shall be unable to allege 
ignorance, we summon these animals to appear 
to-day at the usual hour, after Vespers, either 
in person, or by proxy, at the Episcopal Palace, 
as is customary in Courts of Law, to explain 
and declare for what reasons (if they have any 
valid ones) they have committed this havoc, 
have thought fit to devour the said crops, and 
have not seen fit to leave the district of Contes, 
nor to betake themselves into a desert place 
far from the works of man. 

" And, on the other hand, in reply to the 
request and demands of the said plaintiffs, we 
will provide them (the caterpillars) with a 
procureur or defender, and we will oblige them, 
in accordance with the dictates of right and 
reason, to transport themselves into waste and 
uninhabited spots, since they should cause no 
damage nor be harmful to any man, nor to any 
work of men. And that under pain of ex- 
communication, which these caterpillars shall 
justly fear, without prejudice to other ecclesi- 
astical censure which may be applied to them. 
Given at Nice under the seal of the Episcopal 
Court the twenty-second of May, 1508." 

The defender nominated on behalf of the 
caterpillars, a certain Caravasquini, had little 



190 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

difficulty in showing that, on account of distance, 
it was impossible for the defendants to arrive 
at the hour cited. The summer passed in the 
discussion of subtle points, and it was not until 
the month of November that the procurear, 
Isnard Sismondini, demanded that the case 
should be settled, and at the same time made 
known to the judge that his clients, the in- 
habitants of Contes, had decided to offer to 
the caterpillars, " in due form, and to be held in 
perpetuity," a portion of their territory known as 
Pierrefeu, situated on the slopes of Mont Macaron, 
where the said animals would find quarters with 
sufficient pasture. In consequence, he demanded 
that the judge should order the immediate 
emigration of the tuora to that spot, under pain 
of excommunication. 

The reply of Caravasquini in the name of his 
clients set forth as follows : 

" God Almighty," said he, " ordained that 
Noah should put into the Ark two of each species 
of every animal, male and female. What is 
permitted by God should neither be set aside 
nor broken down, but should be the more ob- 
served because it is God's ordinance. As said 
the prophet Isaiah, c Have your ways been 
exalted above Mine, or is it not rather that your 
ways are evil ? ' Therefore, as every good 



CATERPILLARS OF CONTES 191 

action should receive its reward, in like manner 
should no bad action remain unpunished. That 
is true justice, and man should be assured that, 
without anticipating the punishments of eternity, 
should he be deserving of punishment, he shall 
experience it in his life-time, and shall suffer it in 
regard to his temporal possessions, in accordance 
with the fullness of justice. The executioner, 
and the instruments of justice, are called upon 
to this effect. In like fashion, the administrators 
of the things of God are also called upon to 
assure the execution of judgments and sentences. 
It is written in the Gospel according to Saint 
Matthew, 4 God in His anger delivers over to the 
executioner the man who has not pardoned his 
brother who has offended him.' " 

For the defence, it was set out that the citation 
issued against the caterpillars did not repose 
on any foundation, and that, therefore, these 
animals could not be excommunicated. They 
were, in fact, but the scourge of God, since being 
wanting in reasoning power, which has been 
given to man alone, " nee enim potest animal 
injuriam fecisse quod sensu caret " (animals 
cannot be held responsible for their misdeeds, 
since they are without reasoning powers). The 
inhabitants of Contes had, doubtless, deserved 
this severe trial. Perhaps the Lord was desirous 
of punishing them " for having turned a deaf 



192 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

ear to the needy who begged at their doors, since 
it is an infallible decree that he who turns a 
deaf ear to the poor must expect that God shall 
do the like to him." Or possibly, " might it not 
be on account of irreverence in church during 
the celebration of Divine Service ? " For it is 
necessary that every man shall take heed not to 
offend God, but rather to turn to Him, . for it is 
written, " every time that the wicked man 
turneth from his wickedness, I will call to 
mind his sins no more, and I will change his 
heart." " Is it not on account of the sins of 
Egypt that God changed water into blood, let 
the earth beget frogs, and sent a multitude of flies 
and gnats, that He despoiled their vines and 
their fig trees, and sent locusts upon them, and 
cockchafers in innumerable quantities, which 
ate up all their crops on the earth, and all their 
fruit on the trees. Whence it is evident that in 
no fashion ought the lower animals to be re- 
moved from those places which God has assigned 
to them, when He ordered them to live there, 
and permitted them to feed on the crops, to gnaw 
the grass and the seeds which bear fruit in their 
season, and that this should be so until the 
will of God be changed. It is then indisputable, 
and we should regard and hold it as true that the 
plaintiffs who have solicited and obtained letters 



CATERPILLARS OF CONTES 193 

from Your Reverence, should turn themselves 
to the aforesaid God Almighty, Creator of Heaven 
and Earth. By confessing their faults, and asking 
pardon for their errors, they will obtain mercy 
from God Almighty, and it will then consequently 
be useless that they should present themselves 
before Your Reverence's Court." 

The pleading was cleverly drawn up, and the 
judge found himself in an embarrassing position. 
Although he was anxious to deliver the district 
of Contes from the scourge which afflicted it, 
he was uncertain in his own mind whether, as 
the Counsel for the defence had intimated, the 
inhabitants of the commune might not have 
incurred the Divine wrath, and have deserved 
the trial which they were undergoing. He 
therefore resolved, before having recourse to the 
strict form of excommunication, to order ex- 
piatory prayers, and to constrain the people 
of Contes to new mortifications, which should 
touch them at the same time both in their bodies 
and in their pockets. He ordered strict fasts 
to be observed during the month of December. 
At the same time, each family must pay into the 
hands of the Bishop of Nice an extraordinary 
tithe in money, to the value of half a crop. These 
acts, which would be pleasing to God, might be 

the means of turning away His anger. He also 
o 



194 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

ordained that a great procession should be held 
on the last Sunday in the year, after Vespers, 
in which the clergy should carry the relics of 
Saint Mary Magdalen, solemnly conjuring the 
caterpillars to stay their depredations, which 
would henceforth be considered sacrilegious. 
To facilitate their renunciation, that the pro- 
cession should march to the locality of Pierrefeu, 
which was to be set aside by the inhabitants 
for the free pasture of the caterpillars. The 
latter would, in this manner, be taught the road 
they had to follow. Should they resist these 
pressing objurgations, they would be struck 
down by excommunication, and be compelled to 
submit to the orders of the ministers of God. 

On the appointed date, the inhabitants of 
Contes gathered in the church. For a month they 
had done penance, and the tithes had been duly 
paid to the Bishop ; nothing now remained but 
the solemn procession which had been ordered. 
If the caterpillars did not obey the citation to 
betake themselves off as quickly as possible, 
the priests would reduce them to impotence 
by the thunders of excommunication. Moreover, 
that they might not be able to allege that they 
were either in ignorance, or had been taken by 
surprise, the cure had had the terms of the 
judgment published in the country-side. Well- 



CATERPILLARS OF CONTES 195 

disposed persons had betaken themselves into 
the threatened fields, into the vineyards, the 
olive groves, and the pine woods, where the 
caterpillars wrought their havoc, and announcing 
aloud the day and the hour on which the pro- 
cession would go to Pierrefeu, had invited the 
tuora to follow the priests and the faithful with 
docility, so as to escape eternal damnation. 
But no one had the least idea what the cater- 
pillars would do when the procession started. 
The cure marched under a canopy borne by the 
Consul and the chief men of the village. He held 
aloft the precious relics of Saint Mary Magdalen, 
and a priest on either side of him swung a smoking 
censer. The Black and White Penitents marched 
at the head of the procession, for these rival 
confraternities, who had oft-times in previous 
years fought pitched battles with each other 
(with the crucifix and maces belonging to them, 
as weapons) were reconciled in face of the 
common danger. The Whites had condescended 
to give the precedence to the Blacks, and the 
latter, in return, had allowed their former 
adversaries to carry the old wooden cross 
adorned with the instruments of the Passion, 
which was carefully preserved among the church 
ornaments of the parish. The members of the 
reconciled confraternities chanted in unison the 



196 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Farce nobis Domine, and the crowd which 
followed the relics recited the Ave Maria, and 
innumerable paternosters, led by the Children of 
Mary, in clean white muslin. The church bells 
pealed as loud as they could. 

Suddenly the miracle happened. On every side 
the caterpillars were seen advancing along every 
path which led from the fields and hill-sides 
to the village. They came through the green 
of the pasture-land and the grey of the stones, 
in long moving files which resembled interminable 
snakes of various hues of brown, red, and orange. 
The citations which had been made to them on 
previous days had apparently convinced them 
of the futility of resistance, and they were 
hastening towards the procession which was to 
lead them to the spot where they would find a 
refuge and pasture. When the inhabitants saw 
the accursed tuora advancing towards them, they 
shouted with joy, and the priests waited 
to allow the animals to join the procession. 
Then, when the first caterpillars who were leading 
the others were on the heels of the procession, 
it started slowly forward, and the caterpillars 
followed it obediently. The people had taken 
the precaution to put down planks across the 
Paillon, to allow the animals to cross the water 
without risk. Everyone soon reached the other 



CATERPILLARS OF CONTES 197 

side of the river, and the tuora in orderly bands, 
the head of each touching the tail of the one in 
front of him, made their way to Mont Macaron. 

As soon as the procession had arrived at the 
spot on the woody hill-side at Pierrefeu, which 
had been designated as their future abode, a 
halt was made. The cure returned thanks to the 
Lord for having heard the supplications of the 
inhabitants, and for having pardoned their past 
misdeeds. He praised the caterpillars for their 
humility and their obedience, and requested 
them, in future, to abstain from depredations 
in the district of Contes, since they had at 
Pierrefeu a spot abounding in many sorts of 
trees, plants, and leaves, in addition to an ample 
sufficiency of grass and pasture. 

Then the procession wound its way back to 
the village, amid the peal of joy bells, while the 
people lifted up their voices with grateful hearts 
in the strains of the Magnificat. 

Without wishing to detract from the renown 
which attaches to the village of Contes from this 
occurrence, it must be placed on record that a 
somewhat similar tale has been credited to the 
monks of Cimiez, who are said to have led their 
animal scourges across the Paillon in like fashion. 

In this country, as in most others, legends of 
the Evil One are rife in several localities. Though 



198 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

most of them date back to mediaeval times, yet a 
witty Irish priest recently delivered himself of 
the dictum that, when the Devil has nothing to 
do in the winter, he takes a villa at Nice, to keep 
himself occupied. But that does not come into 
the present story. 

At Eze the inhabitants still relate how they 
got the better of the Devil in an age when faith 
was more robust than it is at present. The tale 
goes that one warm summer afternoon an old 
shepherd, known under the name of Lou Finassou, 
having left his dog Negro to look after his flock of 
goats, was resting in the shade of a carouba tree. 
Looking at the village on the hill in front of him, 
he was reminded that the next day was Sunday, 
and to get to Mass he would have to go down 
to the bottom of the ravine, and climb the other 
side of the hill to Eze. " Why did the good God 
dig this hole between the two hills ? If only 
they were connected with a fine bridge ! No, 
no, God is not just ! " The blasphemous words 
had hardly left his lips, when the Devil stood 
before him, wriggling his tail. " I will make you 
a bridge, Lou Finassou, if you like, but gift for 
gift ; I must be paid with the soul of the first 
to cross it." The shepherd thought a moment 
and then accepted the bargain, for an idea 
flashed into his mind. 



THE DEVIL'S BRIDGE AT EZE 199 

That evening the villagers of Eze, as they sat 
before their doors, thought they saw thousands of 
fireflies down in the valley, but they soon 
recognised their mistake, for as the lightning 
flashed in the sky they discovered what they 
had taken to be fireflies were but the gleaming 
eyes of little naked devils, who were dragging 
along scorched beams smelling of hell, whence 
they were certainly bringing them ; and while 
these little devils were building the scaffolding 
for the bridge the thunder-bolts were striking 
the mountain, tearing up the rocks, and cutting 
the stone for the edifice. The villagers were 
terrified, and hid themselves in their houses^ 
taking care to sprinkle the thresholds with holy 
water. 

Next morning, before the cock crew, a magnifi- 
cent bridge joined Eze to the neighbouring hill, 
but no one dared to cross it, for in the centre 
waited Satan in person. At the other end of the 
bridge a group of peasants going to Mass were 
listening to Lou Finassou. " Eh ! Lou Finas- 
sou," cried the King of Hell, who caught sight 
of him, " so you are the one to devote himself ? 
If so, I am sold, for your place in my abode 
has been kept for you for a long time." " As I 
thought," said the shepherd, " and I will play 
fair. Put on your spectacles, and look at the 



200 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

companion I have brought for you. I have no 
doubt he will suit you, for he resembles you," 
and whistling to his dog Negro, he threw a big bit 
of cheese to the other end of the bridge. In two 
bounds the dog was across it; while the Devil, 
realizing that he had been sold, disappeared over 
the parapet of the bridge, leaving a big hole 
filled with smoke and sulphurous flames, nor 
was his Satanic Majesty ever seen again in the 
district. The peasants tried in vain to fill up 
the hole with brushwood and branches to get 
to church, but when they arrived there they 
found the Mass was over, which was the only 
consolation which remained for Satan. The 
hole could never be filled up, and those who 
tried to cross the bridge were never seen again ; 
so it was decided to demolish it, and, according 
to the legend, the work took as many years as it 
had taken hours to build it. 

Another legend connected with the Evil One 
is current concerning the " Cime du Diable," a 
snow-covered Alpine peak behind Levens. Here 
is the tale as to how the Devil became lord of 
the mountain which bears his name. It was a 
well-known fact that Satan generally chose for 
his abode high, bare summits, whence he could 
easily keep a watchful eye on the human race. 
If he was content with this peak of eight thousand 



CAPTURE OF THE EVIL ONE 201 

feet, although some of the neighbouring summits 
were much higher, the reason was explained 
by the fact that in the immediate vicinity 
were the " Laghi d' Inferno " (the lakes of hell), 
so deep that he could, by their means, communi- 
cate with his kingdom. 

The whole valley of the Vesubie, from Saint 
Martin to La Bollene and Lantosque, suffered 
from his presence, until a young priest, burning 
with ardour, who had recently been made cure 
of Belvedere, decided to strike a great blow ; 
he called together all the men of the country-side, 
to climb in procession (and in a state of grace) 
to the assault of the enemy, and when they got 
to the top he summoned Satan to appear. The 
Devil was at that moment very busy in settling 
suitably in hell the soul of a yrocureur recently 
arrived, who had been warmly recommended to 
him by all the people whom the old curmudgeon 
had wronged in his lifetime ; however, tired of 
hearing himself slandered and insulted in bad 
Latin, he made up his mind to put his head out 
of the lake just in time to receive a dousing of 
holy water. The Devil cut a caper, and irrever- 
ently presented the other end of his person, 
which was also copiously sprinkled, and then, 
in a couple of strokes, he gained the edge of the 
lake, out of reach of the terrible holy water brush. 



202 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Once there, he realized he had to deal with 
determined folk, so he decided to temporize, 
and to act with cunning. " Mercy, mercy ! " he 
cried, " I surrender. I will leave this part 
of the country, and go and live in a desert far 
away from men. I am going down to the village 
with you, to personally announce my departure 
to your dear wives whom I have plagued so much, 
and to beg their pardon. And all of you, subjects 
of my Empire, devils of air, land, and water, fall 
in behind me, to come and apologize to these 
worthy women who are anxiously waiting for 
their brave husbands in the market - place at 
Belvedere." In a twinkling more than a 
hundred little devils appeared from all quarters, 
and surrounded their master, swimming, flying, 
leaping, or running, some with bodies of men 
and heads of animals, others fashioned like 
snakes, snails, birds, frogs, fish, or crabs ; some 
wore long silken robes, breastplates, and coats of 
mail, but others were as naked as they were 
born. 

When the unfortunate peasants saw this 
swarm of loathsome vermin they were seized 
with fright, and realized the danger of letting all 
these little devils go down to the valley, where 
they would not fail before leaving the country 
to run round their wives' petticoats again, and 



CAPTURE OF THE EVIL ONE 203 

perchance even cast the evil eye on the cattle. 
On these reflections the bravest among them 
began to return to Belvedere, and one old man, 
taking off his hat, replied to Satan, " No, no, 
you are all right here, stay here, Monsieur le 
Diable. Don't listen to Monsieur le Cure, 
and beg your pardon for having disturbed you," 
and he started off on the way down. The pace 
was pretty quick over the rocks, for no one 
wanted to be in the rear, by fear of being snapped 
up by some devil or other. The wretched cure, 
although he had tucked up his cassock, fell 
down twice, to the great delight of the Devil, 
who had forgotten all about the old procureur, and 
was holding his sides with laughter. 

None the less, Heaven did not permit the 
Evil One to enjoy his victory long ; in fact, 
some years later he was caught and chained 
up by a simple peasant of Contes. It was at the 
time when Satan limited himself to the valley 
of the Paillon to Peille, tormenting poor Chris- 
tians from the Col de Braus, as far as Drap ; the 
men no longer frequented the churches, which 
were empty when the inns were crowded, and 
the women, possessed by the Devil, beat their 
husbands as hard as they did their washing. 
However, by dint of sprinkling holy water, 
and of chanting " Vade Retro ".(" Get thee behind 



204 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

me, Satan "), they succeeded in driving the 
Devil back to his mountain, where he undertook 
to remain, on condition that they brought him 
every year the soul of an evildoer, chosen 
preferably from the drunkards and husbands 
who were so weak as to let themselves be beaten 
by their wives. In consequence of this com- 
pact the men stopped drinking, but they took 
to thrashing their wives for fear of being beaten 
again by them. 

So things were not going much better until a 
peasant of Contes made up his mind to rid the 
country-side of its unpleasant neighbour. So, 
one evening, when an old drunkard of Escarene 
(who had been deceived and beaten by his wife) 
had just given up his soul between two hiccoughs, 
the man from Contes betook himself up the 
mountain, leading his donkey, on whose back 
was a pot of birdlime. When he got to the 
summit it was so dark that he could not tell 
on the snow which was the head of his donkey 
and which was the tail ; but the devil was on the 
look-out, and thinking he had to do with the 
drunkard who had just expired, he apostrophized 
him roughly, and bounded on him, horns and 
claws in front, to get a better grip on him. The 
sly peasant, who suspected the attack, warded it 
off with his cauldron, and the poor Devil got so 



CAPTURE OF THE EVIL ONE 205 

entangled in the birdlime which flew from this 
new sort of buckler, that it was soon impossible 
for him to move at all. The peasant immediately 
tied a halter round his neck, which he had taken 
the precaution, as he passed through Luceram, 
to dip in holy water, then he made the sign 
of the Cross on the double knot, and dragging his 
prisoner, despite his cries, he tied him by an 
iron chain to a big rock. Since that time bits of 
rock have fallen and hidden Satan, but he is 
often heard groaning on nights of great snow- 
storms and tempests. 



CHAPTER X 

Old customs in Nice — Lou Presepi — The Noue of the Madeleine — The 
Fete of the Rogations — The confraternities — ff La Gloria'' — The 
Festins of Lent — The Cougourdons — Summer Festins — Folk-lore — 
Wolf superstitions — Witch villages — Bad luck in planting cypresses 
— Bee customs — The mistral — Old weights and measures. 

IN the fifty years which have elapsed since the 
annexation, Nice has changed from a quiet 
Italian city into a French capital of cosmopolitan 
society, and while the enormous development 
of the town has brought undreamt-of prosperity 
to its citizens, yet, of necessity, much of the 
ancient picturesqueness of life has departed. 
Many of the old customs which were, so to speak, 
illuminated with tallow dips, have disappeared 
altogether before the insistent blaze of electric 
light ; and others are fast fading into obscurity. 
They will never, probably, all quite die out, 
for the Nicois preserves with his language 
a certain amount of racial individuality ; but 
they do not meet the eye as they did little more 
than a couple of decades ago. The old Nicois 
costume, for instance, with the women's hats 
of broad flat straw tied with black velvet, 
and the men's dress of goatskin breeches, and 

206 



OLD CUSTOMS IN NICE 207 

short gay embroidered coats with, for a head- 
dress, a sort of Phrygian cap, are only to be met 
with nowadays, the former, perhaps, among a 
few donkey-drivers of Mentone, and the latter, 
in the Hinterland of the Riviera, in the mountain 
districts, where few people penetrate. 

The sole survivals of the old customs which 
still obtain may be numbered on the fingers of 
one hand. They are the Presepi, the Noue 
of the Madeleine, the Lenten processions, the 
ceremony of the Gloria on Holy Thursday, and 
the Spring Festins, which are still observed 
in the quarters of the town, as well as on the 
country-side, although their special significance 
has become largely obscured. 

" Lou Presepi " is an interesting survival 
which is worthy of a closer acquaintance. It 
is the direct descendant of those old mystery 
plays which Holy Church permitted in the Dark 
Ages, when all players were merely " rogues 
and vagabonds," and as such could benefit 
neither by the consolations of religion nor the 
protection of the law. 

" Presepi " in Nicois, " Creche " in French, 
" Crib " in old English, it is primarily the 
representation of the Nativity of Our Lord in 
the village of Bethlehem, and was, at one time, 
played all over Christendom at the holy season. 



208 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

In the days before theatres were, it was the 
custom to present these mystery plays to bring 
home to the uneducated intellect the truths 
of the Bible story ; or the legends connected 
with local or national Saints, as was evidenced 
in the true and veracious histories of Saint George 
and the Dragon, and the tale of the Seven 
Sleepers. Originally these were given in church, 
and the actors were the priests themselves and 
the acolytes who served the sanctuary. The 
Presepi, as it may be seen at Christmas-time 
in the old town of Nice, is a very quaint and 
interesting ceremony. Much of the music, un- 
accompanied solo or part- singing, is of reverent 
antiquity, and of that Gregorian character which, 
students know, goes far further into the mists of 
the world's history than the time of the famous 
Pope who collated it to the service of the Church. 
According to legend, and in this case legend may 
well be truth, it was King David the Psalmist 
who set in order for the service of the Temple 
the religious chants which are known to-day 
under the general heading of Gregorian. And 
of this character are certain of the part-songs 
which usher in the performance. 

To find the house where the Presepi is per- 
formed, the stranger must pierce the maze of old, 
winding, and malodorous streets which are still 



LOU PRESEPI 209 

to be found in the quaint Italian town on the 
other side of the Paillon, whose very existence 
even is unknown to the vast majority of ordinary 
visitors. The way is indicated at intervals 
by swinging lanterns bearing the inscription 
" Lou Presepi de Bethleem," and finally a 
doorway is found, into which all the children 
of the neighbourhood appear to be endeavouring 
to crowd at once. Two sous thrown into a 
platter gain admission, and the theatre proves 
to be a long and rather narrow room lighted by a 
single gas-lamp. At the end is a stage some 
twenty feet deep ; in the foreground is a typical 
creche, and the stable with the Virgin Mother 
and the Holy Babe, Saint Joseph regarding them, 
and the ox and the ass in the background. 
Without are groups of figures, mostly in Nicois 
costume, shepherds watching their flocks, 
peasants, soldiers of the Third Republic, and an 
old woman drawing water from a well, ducks 
on a pond — a pretty rustic, unpretentious mise 
en scene, such as one may see in a score of village 
churches, only a trifle more elaborate. High 
up at the back of the stage are a couple of raised 
estrades, flanked on one side by a church, and 
on the other by a house with a vine-clad porch 
and opened windows. The audience is seated 
on rough wooden benches, and many stand. 



210 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

On the other side of the little theatre are long 
hangings of painted linen in lieu of programmes. 
That on the right is symbolical, and shows the 
Kings bringing their offerings of myrrh, frank- 
incense, and gold. The monarchs amble along 
on white palfreys, preceded by slaves, some 
riding on camels, some on foot, escorting their 
masters. That on the left depicts the characters 
of the drama ; typical Nicois figures, with their 
names inscribed below them. First comes a 
plethoric angel, blowing a fat trumpet ; after 
him march in threes the cast, " Doun Peleugran " 
(the cure), " Lou Cassaire," " Lou Pescadou," 
" Barba Lauren," " Lou Trouble " (in shirt and 
night-cap), " Cicoun " (drawing a tub and sauce- 
pan after her), " Ciarle " (Charlie) ? ? " Lou 
Gendarma," " La Filusa," " Lou Sacrestan," 
" Lou Maestre " (the comic relief), and " Lou 
Pastre " (a shepherd). 

The single light is lowered, and the stage is 
illuminated only by a tiny lamp, a bell rings, and 
all conversation is promptly repressed by uni- 
versal hushings. There are no wings to the stage, 
and all the figures enter from the floor, or are 
lowered from the flies. A hoarse and untuneful 
voice intones, woefully out of tune, Adam's 
" Minuit, Chretiens." As the clock strikes twelve 
an angel descends on a cord, bearing a little red 



LOU PRESEPI 211 

electric light, and blowing manfully on a penny 
tin trumpet. It must be premised at once, that 
all the actors are puppets of various sizes. 
The voice which does duty for the angel an- 
nounces in intelligible French that he is the 
Archangel Gabriel, and that is the first and 
almost the last of the performance which a 
foreigner will be able to follow. After the 
Herald Angel has been drawn up once more to his 
native skies, a delightful Gregorian chorale is 
given, in which the audience joins, " Gloria in 
Excelsis Deo, et in Terra Pax inter homines 
bonse voluntatis." 

The comely little Nicois children, of which the 
audience is largely composed, stand on the 
benches, and crane their necks in youthful 
pleasure, and suddenly up pops a puppet on the 
second plane of the stage. 

After that no coherent account of the pro- 
ceedings is possible ; they partake largely of the 
character of a harlequinade, and the local 
celebrities of the quarter, as they appear, cut 
jokes which are utterly unintelligible to a stranger 
but which provoke shrieks of laughter from the 
crowded audience. The religious character of 
the prelude entirely disappears, and the per- 
formance quickly develops into the nature of a 
primitive revue. As an example of a mediaeval 



212 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

survival it is of the highest interest ; though the 
language may be impossible of comprehension, 
yet the drift of the thing can easily be seized, 
and in these drab days of mediocrity anything 
out of the common run should be preserved at 
all hazards. 

It is a pity that the old Provencal " Noels " 
or Christmas carols are no longer heard in 
this part of the country. Much of the mediaeval 
music to which they were set has survived, 
and it is impossible to find anything more 
melodious or more characteristic of this land 
where the Troubadours sprang singing, so to 
speak, from the soil. But these are not to be 
found in Nice ; go to a score of churches, and 
you will hear naught beyond the " Adeste Fideles " 
and the "Noel " of Adam. In the English churches 
alone are the sweet old carols sung at the holy 
season of the Nativity ; but these are naturally 
given to the old English tunes. 

The " Noue " of the Madeleine is celebrated 
in that picturesque valley at three o'clock in 
the morning of Christmas Day. The ceremony 
takes place in the village church, and thither 
flock all the population of the quarter. The 
little church is hung with crimson brocade 
and is decked with ropes of evergreens, inter- 
mingled with garlands of blue and pink material, 



NOUE OF THE MADELEINE 213 

heavily fringed with gold and silver. Before 
the altar sits a priest holding the effigy of the 
Infant Christ on his knees, close to him stands 
" Lou Rimaire," who improvises couplet after 
couplet to an ancient tune. For hours he sings, 
and his chant passing from the Mysteries of the 
Nativity finally becomes sufficiently topical to 
include by name the heads of families all of 
whom bring offerings, mostly in kind, to be laid 
upon the altar. These vary from a basket of 
eggs, a pair of pigeons, a white hen, to a packet of 
candles ; and all the time the musical voice of 
" Lou Rimaire " ploughs steadily along through 
his hundred and fifty or so traditional verses, 
without counting the additional complimentary 
ones. He is accompanied by an orchestra 
consisting of a cornet, flute, and double bass, 
whose performance is more convincing than 
musical. 

But the charm of the ceremony is the children, 
who come in fancy costumes to kneel and kiss 
the Divine Infant. Little shepherds and shep- 
herdesses, small sportsmen in velveteen jackets, 
shouldering wooden guns, and rosy-cheeked little 
damsels dressed as angels with tinsel wings, all 
defile round the church, and end up by kneeling 
before the creche, which is set up in a side chapel. 
It is daylight before the ceremony comes to an 



214 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

end and the people disperse, singing the refrains 
of " Lou Rimaire's " couplets. 

The history of the Fete of the Rogations, 
which Monsieur Edouard Arene tells us in his 
" Souvenir de Cinquante Ans," is of considerable 
interest. About the middle of the fifth century 
Saint Mamertius, Bishop of Vienne in Dauphiny, 
after having obtained by his prayers the cessation 
of a fire which was ravaging his Cathedral on 
Easter night, in the year 469, made a vow to God 
to institute Rogations, that is to say, litanies or 
supplications chanted in solemn procession, with 
fasting and public prayer ; he appointed the 
three days preceding Ascension Day for this 
purpose. His example was soon followed, and 
these Rogations were universally established in 
France, by the first Council of Orleans, held in 
511 ; and the Council of Gerona, in 517, recog- 
nized them as existing in Spain. However, 
they did not become customary in Rome until 
the end of the eighth century, under Pope 
Leo III. 

At Nice there were three partial processions 
on the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before 
Ascension Day, for the Benediction of the sea 
and the country-side. On Ascension Day itself 
there was a general procession in which the 
Bishop took part, with all the parochial clergy, 



THE CONFRATERNITIES 215 

the monks, and the lay confraternities of the 
town. This procession betook itself to the site 
of the old Porte Pairoliere, where the Bishop 
blessed the town and country. 

But though this old-world custom has passed 
into the limbo of forgotten things, yet there are 
still certain religious processions to be seen in 
Lent, when the various White, Black, Blue, and 
Red Penitents walk through the streets to their 
various chapels. These confraternities are of 
very reverend antiquity, and have always been 
highly considered. The White Penitents are 
said to have been founded by some Genoese 
in the year 1304, the Chapelle de la Croix belongs 
to them. The Black Penitents (whose chapel is 
that of La Misericorde) date from the year 1532, 
when they were instituted under the Pontificate 
of Adrian VI. The Blue Penitents were founded 
in 1431, and they possess the chapel of the Holy 
Sepulchre ; while the Red Penitents date from 
1585, and use the Chapel of the Holy Shroud. 
Preceded by their crosses, sometimes of massive 
silver, sometimes only of painted wood, with 
old swinging silver lamps borne on either side, 
these processions are a picturesque spectacle, 
the members clothed in a sort of domino of the 
colour of the confraternity — both men and women, 
the latter having white veils bound round their 



216 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

heads. Holy Thursday is the day on which they 
are to be seen. 

There is an old Nicois custom in connection 
with Holy Week, which always takes place on 
Easter Eve. As is well known, in Catholic 
countries the church bells are silent from Holy 
Thursday until the consecration of the Host at 
High Mass on Easter Eve, and the legend tells 
us that they have gone to Rome to be blessed by 
the Pope. Those who happen to be in the flower 
market when the bells crash out on their return 
from their long flight will see all the old market 
women of Nice rush to the fountain, and, dipping 
their fingers in the water, with repeated shouts 
of "La Gloria ! La Gloria ! " they make the 
sign of the Cross, and return to chaffer with their 
customers under their big red umbrellas, with 
even more than their usual gusto. 

Since the year 1903 no other processions than 
those of the confraternities have been permitted 
in the town, and the famous processions of Corpus 
Christi and of Notre Dame des Graces have 
been allowed to fall into desuetude. The same 
ban does not, however, apply to the villages in 
the country round. 

From time immemorial the Nicois have been 
a gay and happy people, and especially in the 
summer, much addicted to outdoor fetes, beyond 



THE FESTINS OF LENT 217 

the limits of the town. Louis Robaudi says that 
in olden times the people of Nice were devoted 
to the theatre, sport, and dancing ; the peasants 
were especially fond of the latter amusement, 
and no sort of valse, galop, or country dance, 
however complicated, was unknown to them. 
They delighted in playing bowls, and games of 
cards, and the ancient Roman game of " mourra," 
as they called it (" morra " in Latin) was in his 
time, and still is, played there. How little these 
sort of things change. Here is a description of 
a Festin, written by Sulzer, in the year 1775, 
which requires but small alteration to fit the 
circumstances at the present day. " On certain 
Sundays and fete days," he says, " the common 
people betake themselves to the churches and 
chapels of the environs. On the open space in 
front of the church tables are set up, as at a fair, 
laden with all sorts of eatables : raisins, roasted 
chestnuts, and almonds, and bottles of country 
wine. There gather young and old, in their best 
clothes, decked out with nosegays and ribbons. 
They spend a pleasant afternoon in eating and 
drinking, and stroll up and down for the pleasure 
of seeing and being seen. Vespers are going on 
in the church, and the crowd wanders in and out 
perpetually. Often well-to-do people and the 
local aristocracy take part in the Festin ; every- 



218 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

one is gay and happy, for no particular reason 
except because they see everyone else in the same 
state, and because they intend to spend a pleasant 
afternoon. In the evening they all go home very 
contented, and on their return meet the people 
who have not been able to go to the Festin, who 
are pleased to see them so happy and merry." 

The season of Festins is opened by immutable 
custom with those taking place in Lent, of which 
six stand out as typical survivals of local tradi- 
tion. The first of these is the Festin des Re- 
proches, which is held at Cimiez, as has been the 
case for centuries, on the first Sunday in Lent. 
On this occasion, according to old usage, lovers 
make their way to the old monastery church, 
and after mutually reproaching each other for 
any real or fancied infidelities during the past 
Carnival, they agree to say no more about it, 
and saunter homewards after a not extravagant 
meal of cakes and country wine. " Irse aman- 
tium," says Cicero, " sunt renovationes amoris." 
The following Sunday should come the Festin 
de la Reconciliation, at Saint Barthelemy, when 
the mutual forgiveness of the previous Festin is 
confirmed ; and a week later everyone should 
repair to the old Abbey of Saint Pons, for the 
Festin des Promesses ; at this, according to old 
custom, the wedding day should be fixed, which 



THE COUGOURDONS 219 

should be as soon after Easter as possible. The 
Festin on the following Sunday is called that 
of the " Calignatori," at Saint Etienne, when 
the courting is continued ; the English word 
" cuddle " seems to be the nearest translation 
available ! Of late years the dates of these three 
have not always been religiously observed, but 
the first and the next two to be mentioned are 
invariably kept on their wonted dates. 

On Passion Sunday comes the Festin des 
Rangous et des Gibous (the halt and the hump- 
backed), so called from its being held round the 
church of Saint Pierre, and on the Promenade 
des Anglais, a spot so convenient to the centre 
of the town that all, however infirm, could 
manage to be present. Last of all, on Lady Day, 
comes the great Festin des Cougourdons 
(the Feast of Gourds), at Cimiez, which is the 
most frequented of all. Not an old Nicois worthy 
of the name but will climb the hill before day- 
break, to be present at the first Mass in the old 
monastery church. It is probably the only day 
in the whole year on which he goes to church, 
but if he be asked why he does so (however 
much of a free-thinker he may be), he will 
reply that he does so because his father, 
and his grandfather, and his forefathers always 
did so before him. The confraternities arrive 



220 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

in picturesque procession, not only from Nice, 
but also from Falicon, and the other hill- 
towns, and cluster round the crucified seraph 
on the place before the church. Then, after 
Mass, and all through the long day, the people 
crowd round the trestle tables laid under the 
enormous ilex trees, which are the pride of the 
monastery, and feast themselves on circular 
cakes of pan bagnat, washed down with rough 
red wine. This " blessed bread " is a ring of 
bread, into the composition of which, in addition 
to the ordinary ingredients, hard-boiled eggs, 
anchovies, and olive oil enter. All down the 
road, and in the old Roman amphitheatre, are 
set the stalls of the sellers of gourds — cou- 
gourdons — and here every variety of carved 
and painted gourd is to be seen, ranging in size 
from an inch to a yard, and in price from a sou 
to a louis. Some of the larger ones are genuine 
works of art, and their production has occupied 
many a family during the winter evenings ; 
the little ones are varnished and painted with a 
flower or some appropriate phrase, and the smallest 
of all are tied with a gay ribbon to be worn as 
button-holes. Formerly all the Festins had their 
little souvenirs, but the custom has fallen into 
disuse. They were generally little hearts (" Lu 
Cuor ") made of gaily painted sugar, which the 



SUMMER FESTINS 221 

stall-keepers offered to their customers. Some- 
times these bon-bons took the form of crosses, 
medals, or little gourds themselves, and the men 
put them in their button-holes, while the women 
pinned them on to their gowns. Queen Victoria 
was ever a faithful visitor to this Festin ; each 
year during her visits to Cimiez she was driven 
slowly from stall to stall in her pony-carriage, 
drawn by the faithful Jocko, and the crowd 
watched her numerous purchases with the 
greatest delight. 

After these six Lenten Festins have in- 
augurated the season, scarce a Sunday passes 
without one or more within easy distance. 
Every village and every parish thus com- 
memorates the feast of its patron Saint, and 
displays of fireworks and rustic sports usually 
end up the day. Incidentally these old f£tes 
keep alive other curious customs ; here is one. 
Mr. J. W. Potter tells us that on Corpus Christi 
Day, at Saint Martin Vesubie, the inhabitants 
have recourse to a very effective method of 
illumination which he has not observed else- 
where. It consists of a large number of snail- 
shells imbedded in sand on the window-sills ; 
these are filled with oil and furnished with wicks, 
so that each shell forms a little lamp, the effect 
being most quaint, and altogether charming. 



222 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

It is in these mountain villages that we often 
find little bits of folk-lore, pleasantly unexpected, 
but naturally explained by their lonely situation. 
Several relate to wolves, for even to-day, up 
above Lantosque, wolves exist, and centuries 
ago, of course, they were comparatively common 
on far lower ground. In the year 1806, in a 
report made by Monsieur du Bouchage, the 
Prefet of the Alpes Maritimes, to the Minister 
of the Interior in Paris, it is stated that wolves 
were very numerous in the Department ; and the 
Prefet assured the Minister that he was making 
every effort for their destruction, since they 
did much damage to the flocks, which were one 
of the mainstays of the prosperity of the Depart- 
ment. Rewards were freely offered and punctu- 
ally paid for the slaughter of wolves, thirty-four 
being slain in the year XIII (1805) and twenty- 
one in the following year. The office of Grand 
Veneur still existed in the Government, and 
there was a captain and a lieutenant of " Lou- 
veterie " (wolf-hunting) in each Department, 
whose duty it was to send in a monthly report 
as to the wolves in their districts, and the number 
destroyed. One local superstition says, " Be 
careful to keep a sharp look-out when wolves 
are in the neighbourhood, for if a wolf sees you 
before you catch sight of him, you will thence- 



WITCH VILLAGES 223 

forth lose your voice." Specially must the 
casual wayfarer shun all people whose eyebrows 
meet in a thick bar, because they are of the blood 
of the Loup - Garou (Werewolf), and should 
therefore be avoided. 

A still more curious reputation attaches to the 
little village of Saint Jeannet, which lies at the 
foot of the great cliff known as the Baou, on the 
other side of the Var, which is a conspicuous 
feature of the landscape all along the coast. The 
popular saying is, that all the women in it are 
witches. At one time witch villages were known 
in England, but the origin of the stigma is 
somewhat difficult to trace. It may, however, be 
fairly assumed that it is due to the jealousy 
of the dwellers in the neighbouring hamlets, 
for in the Middle Ages the accusation of witch- 
craft was sufficient to excuse any amount of 
uncharitableness in word and deed. Miss 
Dempster says that at La Gaude, close by, the 
inhabitants at one time professed the Albigensian 
heresy, and were exterminated for their pains ; 
so that it is quite possible that some old odium 
theologicum is at the bottom of this unflattering 
saying about the women of Saint Jeannet. 

It is a curious thing that even in these days 
there is still a superstitious dread of planting 
cypress trees in the country districts, although 



224 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

so many of them are to be seen, and the peasants 
would, in all probability, refuse to do so, for fear 
of bringing bad luck on themselves. This may 
be a survival of the memory that in pagan times 
the funereal cypress was dedicated to Pluto, 
and was always planted near the tombs of the 
dead. It is somewhat like the English idea that 
it is unlucky to make an asparagus bed. 

In the planting of gourd seeds care must be 
exercised ; the proper time to plant them is 
believed to be when the church bells are ringing 
on Easter Eve. 

Bee superstitions seem to be much the same 
here as elsewhere, and the bees must always be 
informed of all events of any importance happen- 
ing in the family. According to local custom, 
swarms of bees, if the owners have not lost sight 
of them, can be claimed within two days from 
the owner of the property where they have 
swarmed ; but at any time subsequently if it 
can be proved that they had been attracted to 
his land by any fraud or artifice. The same law 
applies to pigeons, fish, and rabbits. 

While on the subject of peasant customs and 
ideas, there is one of these latter which does not, 
at first glance, strike the visitor as very felicitous. 
The country folk always refer to the mistral as 
" the good wind " — with more justice has it been 



THE "MISTRAL" 225 

called " the plague of Provence " ; it blows in 
batches of three days, and produces a feeling of 
lassitude and irritation which is very trying. The 
popular name, however, must be traced to the 
peasants' belief that by its very violence it blows 
away much that is harmful, and so keeps the air 
free from the germs of illness and epidemics ; and 
there is a good deal in favour of this view of the 
matter. The name " mistral " is derived from 
" magistral " — the master wind. 

The weights and measures now in use are, of 
course, those of the metric system, which is 
established by law, but in old days those em- 
ployed here seem to have been even more con- 
fused and unreasonable than our English system, 
which still obtains. An anonymous writer, in a 
quaint " Historical and Picturesque Description 
of the County of Nice," printed in London in 
1792, tells us that the common measure of the 
country was the pan, which was about nine 
inches and three-quarters of the measure of 
France, for four pans made a Paris ell ; this 
measure was for merchandise. The trabue was 
another measure which served for labour ; it 
was twelve pans, or three hundred and twenty- 
four inches square superficies. The pound weight 
of this province, he says, was equivalent to 
twelve ounces of France. There was also the rub, 

Q 



226 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

which weighed twenty-five pounds ; this was 
the weight used for common purposes. 

It will be well to accept this anonymous 
writer's spelling with caution ; for his knowledge 
of the French language would appear to have 
been somewhat phonetic, as elsewhere in his 
lively work we find Aiza for Eze, Vard for Var, 
Saint Auspice for Saint Hospice, and Saint 
Ponce for Saint Pons. The same author relates 
what he considers to be a praiseworthy custom 
of the inhabitants of Nice in his day, who, 
when they cleaned out their wells in summer, 
put at the bottom of them a quantity of charcoal, 
covered with a layer of gravel, a precaution which 
resulted in purifying the water. 



CHAPTER XI 

The vegetation of the Riviera — Olives, palms, oranges, fruit trees and 
gardens — The carouba and the eucalyptus — The garden of Saint 
Barthelemy — The Grottos of Saint Andre and of Falicon — Bird 
life — The green lizard. 

STUDY the book of Nature which God 
hath spread out before thee, and so thou 
wilt store up knowledge in thy brain, and peace 
within thy heart," said Euripides, and nowhere 
may the precept of the old Greek poet be better 
put into practice. Dean Farrar amplified it 
when he wrote, " God's best gifts are the com- 
monest — the air, the light, the beauty of the 
world, the blue of heaven, the winds and stars 
and sunsets " ; and Dean Hole fixed this " beauty 
of the world " in his pages. " None," said he, 
" forget their first happy entrance into the 
vestibule of the Riviera, the country which, 
when you have passed Marseilles, combines the 
wild grandeur of Connemara with the verdant 
grace of Killarney ; the barren mountains (or 
rather the mountains which seem to be barren, 
for you find, when you are upon them, that they 
have a beautiful vegetation of their own), 

227 



228 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

rising up above the trees, some evergreen — 
note especially the carouba or locust tree, the 
pin-parasol or umbrella pine — and some decidu- 
ous, in all their autumnal glory. None forget 
their first sight of the vines, all green and golden, 
under the silvery leafage of the olive ; of the 
red-brown bole of the cork tree, from which 
the outer bark has been removed for use ; of the 
palm tree, of the orange tree, of the mountains 
of the Esterels, rising roseate in the sunset 
from the blue waves of the Mediterranean." 

Such is this lovely coast as we all know it in 
autumn, but it was not always so. Strabo and 
Diodorus tell us that in their day the Riviera 
was a land of forests and meadows, on which 
much rain fell from the clouds which too often 
enshrouded it. There were no palms, or olives, or 
orange trees ; the inhabitants were poor and 
miserable, and oil and wine had to be brought 
from Italy. But the disappearance of the abori- 
ginal forests changed all this, and in the course 
of centuries the climate has become warm and 
dry, and adapted to a sub-tropical vegetation ; 
and what a vegetation it is ! Olives, palm trees, 
and orange trees predominate, but first of all 
comes the olive. " The trees," we read in the 
Book of Judges, " went forth on a time to anoint 
a king over them ; and they said unto the olive 



VEGETATION OF THE RIVIERA 229 

tree, Reign thou over us." And right royally 
does it fulfil its destiny. "Not only does it 
beautify this country with a royal grace [we 
must turn to the worthy Dean again], making it 
brighter in midwinter with a summer smile, 
not only does it enrich it with a royal bounty, 
supplying food and fuel and light ; but it is like 
Solomon, a king among the preachers. It takes 
up its parable, and tells how the white dove 
came home at eventide over the dark waters, and 
lo ! in her mouth was an olive leaf, plucked off ; 
so Noah knew that the waters were abated from 
off the earth." 

The olive comes originally from Ethiopia, 
from Libya, from Syria, or from Lower Egypt, 
and is one of the oldest of known trees. Cecrops 
brought it into Attica from Sais, about 556 B.C., 
and the Phocseans transplanted it from Greece to 
the Riviera. There are no less than thirty-two 
kinds, and two or three hundred varieties of 
olives, all derived from the wild olive or " ole- 
aster," to which they return when they cease 
to be cultivated. 

The Athenians held the olive in the greatest 
veneration, and they considered the person who 
had the audacity to injure it as guilty of one of 
the most heinous of crimes ; since they believed 
that this tree was the offspring of the olive tree 



230 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

in the Parthenon, which was, according to 
legend, placed there by the goddess Athena her- 
self. It was only employed by them to reward 
the victors at the Olympic Games. Columella, 
in the first century, gives good advice in its 
cultivation, when he writes, " Olivetum qui arat, 
rogat fructum ; qui stercorat, exorat ; qui 
csedit, cogit " (" The man who digs round his 
olives asks for fruit ; he who manures them 
begs for it ; he who prunes them compels it "). 
Many are the similes which have been employed 
in trying to describe olive trees. Taine says 
that their rows remind him of a flock of sheep, 
a sober-coloured, useful flock, the only one suited 
to the strong, sun-parched soil in which they 
flourish. Coutance considers it a tree which 
may well be called immortal, for it springs afresh 
from its parent stem. The old trunk becomes 
hollow and dries up, and the peasants fill up the 
cavity with earth and stones to prevent its 
being blown down by the wind ; year by year 
fresh mould is heaped round it, the top sprouts 
anew, the bark sends forth fresh shoots, and the 
gnarled old tree is decked again in green, and 
covered once more with fruit. Each olive is less 
a single tree than a collection of trees ; it seems 
as though it were made up of a bundle of columns 
which had first been violently twisted, and then as 



OLIVE TREES 231 

violently joined again ; new stems grow inside 
the old bark and become embodied in the mother 
stem, and this constantly renewed youth of its 
members seems to ensure a sort of eternity to the 
parent tree. The olive reaches to a colossal 
size on the Riviera, though few of the finest 
specimens still survive. It has been known to 
attain to a height of sixty-five feet, and to 
measure forty-five feet in girth just above the 
ground. The great olive tree of Beaulieu, which 
was at the time the oldest and largest in France, 
said to be a thousand years of age, and measuring 
close on twenty-five feet in circumference, was 
destroyed on April 23rd, 1880, by a madman, 
who set the tree on fire, with the intention of 
perishing in the flames. The finest olives now 
to be seen near Nice are at Saint Pons, and 
on the roadside at Cimiez. When we look at 
these hoary relics of the past we cannot help 
calling to mind what George Macdonald wrote, 
" age is not all decay ; it is the ripening, the 
dwelling of the fresh life within that withers 
and bursts the husk." For these solemn olives, 
how they benefit the country-side. Their foliage, 
despite its sombre hue (to quote Dean Hole once 
more), " brings all the winter through a look 
of summer to the scene, and so attracts the 
stranger and his gold. And though their culture 



232 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

is laborious, for the soil must be walled in on 
these mountain slopes, and abundance of manure 
brought up — and the husbandman must have 
long patience, for the olive has many foes in 
fungus, insect, and frost — it will surely bring 
him, in due season, food, and fuel, and light. 
It flowers in April, and the berries ripen at 
different periods (though the trees all look alike 
there are many varieties here), from November 
to March. These are beaten from the trees 
as in the days of Moses, and conveyed to one of 
the olive mills which may be seen in the neigh- 
bourhood. They are crushed by water-power 
and horse-power, or in the presses by manual 
labour — though steam would doubtless save a 
large amount both of money and work — and 
make various qualities of oil : " surfine," " fine," 
" ordinaire," " mangeable," " clair-roux," " res- 
sence," and " d'enfer." The "clair-roux" is 
used in the preparation of wool, the " ressence " 
for soap, the " d'enfer " for light ; and the two 
latter are commonly given to the miller as pay- 
ment for his work. Thus the olive tree, pleasant 
to the eye and good for food, beautifies the land, 
nourishes the people (they have a compound of 
warm oil and garlic which is highly relished by 
the peasants in these parts), and supplies their 
hearths with firewood, and their lamps with light. 



PALM TREES 233 

Second to the olive, the tree of the Riviera, is 
the date palm, which lords it supreme over the 
town as the olive does over the country-side, 
yet this is, perhaps, too hard and fast a saying, 
for the country is in the town, and the town is in 
the country. Gardens filled with palm trees 
and oranges, heavy with the perfume of count- 
less flowers, spread their glory in the populous 
parts of the city ; the mountains clothed with 
verdure, or capped with snow, close the vista 
of the most frequented streets. 

The history of the palm tree vies with that of 
the olive, its king. Poets have commemorated 
it in their heroes, and religion in her martyrs ; 
hence it has become the emblem of victory. 
Davis is very discursive on this tree, which he 
tells us requires no culture, and having few roots, 
occupies but a small space. He refers to the great 
utility of the palm to the ancient hermits of 
Egypt, to whom its leaves afforded clothing, 
while its fruit served as their principal food. 
They also made mats of the leaves, the sale of 
which enabled them to procure a scanty sub- 
sistence. The fruit does not ripen on the Riviera, 
probably from the climate not being warm 
enough (the Arabs say the date palm loves to 
grow with its foot in water and its head in fire). 
Another cause, however, is assigned by botanists, 



234 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

who say it is in consequence of there being 
no male trees in the neighbourhood. They 
assert that a female palm tree, when there is no 
male palm in the vicinity, produces no fruit, or, at 
all events, that the fruit cannot arrive at maturity, 
as it is necessary that the pollen of the stamen of 
the male flower be applied to the female flower 
in order to produce fecundation. In the lives 
of the Fathers of the Desert, it is observed that 
Saint Anthony wore, at Easter and Whitsuntide, 
a garment of palm leaves which he inherited from 
Saint Paul, the first hermit. We are not told 
whether these leaves were carefully cut from 
male trees, or whether this was another of those 
temptations of the Evil One from which the poor 
Saint suffered so much ! 

The palm tree certainly fascinates the imagina- 
tion on the Riviera, for the combination of the 
snow-clad mountain peaks looking down calmly 
on these sturdy products of tropical lands makes 
a picture under the cloudless blue sky which 
leaves nothing to be desired in the way of beauty. 
The palm of the burning South grows side by 
side with the pine of the frozen North. Len- 
theric, writing of the chief elements in the sylvan 
vegetation of the Riviera, catches the atmosphere 
very accurately. " This sea-girt forest," he says, 
" is always somewhat sad-coloured, but its 



PINE TREES 235 

modest tints harmonize exquisitely with the 
grey, almost blue tones of the calcareous rock. 
It forms the peaceful background of the land- 
scape, behind the vigorous cork trees, the Aleppo 
pines, and, above all, the beautiful umbrella 
pines, whose lordly heads make them seem the 
crowned protectors of the humble undergrowth 
beneath. In those valleys which are entirely 
protected from the winds, and deep within the 
little bays, vegetation becomes more luxuriant, 
and of a brighter hue. The oleander, the orange, 
the aloe, and the fig deck these spots with a 
gorgeous vestment. Real fields of flowers sparkle 
in the sun, and their bright hues blend as do the 
colours of the rainbow, under a sky as pure 
and of as deep a hue as that of Greece or of 
Egypt. The very palm tree itself seems as 
though, for a moment, it had forgotten that the 
desert is its true home, for it shoots up here 
to a remarkable height ; and though it bears no 
fruit, it yet sends forth abundantly its graceful 
branches, like feathers of brilliant green, and 
gives to the country, where winter is unknown, 
the aspect of an Eastern land. 

" All the year round the hills are covered with 
the Aleppo pine, the cork oak, great underwood 
and evergreen arbutus, decked at the same time 
with red berries and white flowers." " Onlv 



236 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

evergreen plants," says Macmillan, in describing 
the vegetation of the Riviera, " can effectively 
resist the universal drought, and therefore the 
bulk of it is of that nature ; but the blue sky 
and the brilliant sunshine prevent it from 
assuming a dull and lustreless appearance, and 
give it almost the transparency and cheerfulness 
of deciduous foliage. The tall, dark spires of the 
cypress, rising here and there in picturesque 
groups on the plains, cast their weird, hard 
shadows over the grey-green foliage, and lead 
the eye away, by a succession of vistas, to the 
distant hills. Contrasting with the sombre 
hues of these trees, the orange and lemon groves 
clothe the hottest and most sheltered spots near 
the shore with their glossy, yellow-green tints, 
and sweeten the air with the fragrance of their 
flowers. Forming a striking foreign feature in 
every landscape, the eucalyptus lifts its lofty 
stem and slender, pendulous, willow-like boughs 
into the air, and by the incessant quivering of 
its leaves in the breeze, gives a delightful feeling 
of coolness to the sultry air. Huge aloes spring 
up, rooted in the crevices of the driest rocks, 
and forcibly recall the grotesque vegetation of 
the tropics. Over all the waste places the cistus 
spreads its grey, aromatic bushes, and unfolds 
its rose-like blossoms, and white and red in 



ORANGES AND LEMONS 237 

quick succession of evanescent beauty, while 
dense thickets of myrtle, thorny smilax, and 
spiny broom form the undergrowth of the 
wooded hills." 

The orange and lemon trees grow close to the 
olive trees, and under both may the green corn 
be oft-times seen sprouting. Frequently vines 
are set among it, and corn, wine, and oil may be 
grown on the same hill-sides. Alphonse Karr so 
describes it, " Ici l'ombre ne nuit pas, elle 
protege. Les citronniers fleurissent et fructifient 
sous les oliviers et sous les figuiers ; les jasmins 
s'epanouissent, et le ble jaunit, sous les citron- 
niers ; les legumes viennent tres bien a l'ombre 
des treilles " (" Here the shade does no harm, 
it is a protection. The lemon trees flourish and 
bear fruit under the olives and fig trees ; the 
jasmine blooms, and the corn ripens beneath the 
lemon trees ; vegetables do very well in the shade 
of the vines trained over their lattices.") Dean 
Hole affirms that in the year 1500 there was only 
one sweet orange tree in France, and that early 
in the nineteenth century there were to be seen 
the remains of a very ancient tree in Lisbon, 
which had supplied all Europe with its scions. 
The orange came from China to Portugal, and 
thence to Nice, where it is still sometimes called 
Portugalie. The best oranges here were always 



238 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

considered those which came from the district 
of Saint Roch, on the other side of the Paillon, 
but half the groves disappeared some years ago, 
when the barracks were erected, and the rest 
have now been cut down to afford an entrance 
for the Coni railway. Nowadays Nice oranges 
are poor in quality, and are grown more for 
their flowers than for their fruit, for this is either 
distilled into the volatile oil known as neroli 
(" nero olio," black oil) — which is the foundation 
of all the perfumes made on the Riviera — or they 
are dried and candied for exportation. The deriva- 
tion of the word " orange " is not, as might be 
thought, the Latin word " aurum," gold — 
though a golden fruit it is in all truth — but the 
Arabic and Persian " narang," hence " arang,' 5 
" orang," " orange." The Spanish word for it 
shows its derivation more clearly, by keeping 
the original initial letter, " naranja." The lemon 
is more sensitive to cold than the orange ; it 
bears flowers and fruit all the year round. 

The carob or carouba tree flourishes on this 
coast, and many fine specimens may be seen in 
and round Beaulieu. Curiously enough, it is not 
to be found in any part of Italy, except in the 
extreme south. 

It was introduced into the Riviera by the 
Saracens, and the word " caruba " is Arabic. 



CAROUBA AND THE EUCALYPTUS 239 

It is also called, in some places, " Saint John's 
bread," as the fruit of this tree is assumed to be 
the " locusts " which kept the Baptist alive in 
the wilderness. Its botanical name is " Cera- 
tonia," derived from the Greek name applied to 
its curious pods, " keratia," meaning " little 
horns." The smooth, hard, lentil-shaped seed or 
pods are believed to be the origin of the carat 
weight used by jewellers and goldsmiths, and 
certainly borrowed from the East. It is said 
that these seeds were chosen as a unit of weight 
because their specific gravity varies so little. 
Speaking of this tree, Macmillan says that 
nowhere in the Holy Land are there such splendid 
specimens as there are at Villefranche and 
Beaulieu, sending up from the wide-spreading, 
half-bared roots and knotted, powerful trunks 
their dense crown of glossy foliage in the midst 
of olive groves, or alone on the sunny shore. 
It is here far north of its proper latitude, since 
it is only elsewhere in Europe to be found in the 
heel of Italy and in Greece. It can endure any 
amount of heat, for it flourishes in Central Africa, 
where the olive is unknown ; but it is impatient 
of cold, and perishes where the olive would thrive. 
It may therefore be regarded as a vegetable ther- 
mometer along the shores of the Riviera. The 
eucalyptus is a comparative new-comer to this 



240 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

coast, which it has rather taken by storm of late 
years. The " Eucalyptus globulus," to give its 
botanical designation, was first discovered in 
Van Diemen's Land — or, as we now call it, 
Tasmania — in 1792, by the botanist La Billar- 
diere. It was not, however, grown in this country 
until it was introduced by Monsieur Thuret, the 
well-known botanist from Algiers, in 1859, where 
it had been grown from seed brought from 
Australia by way of experiment. Mr. John 
Taylor, of Cannes, raised some plants from 
seed in 1860, and planted them in the garden of 
the Villa Victoria there in 1862. The finest 
specimen on the Riviera was that which stood 
in the Place Massena, but which had to be 
removed some years ago on account of the ex- 
igencies of traffic. These trees have flourished 
as well here as they have in Algeria, and there 
are now over sixty different species on the 
Riviera. 

The mimosa flourishes mightily, and there 
seems no end to its varieties ; in spring-time it 
pours its cascades of gold over every wall and 
garden fence, and its delicate fragrance, so 
elusive in its subtlety, perfumes the air on every 
side. The country districts are still well wooded, 
and the sweet chestnut tree abounds ; in the 
mountain villages to the north of Nice the poorer 



ALMONDS AND PEACHES 241 

folk made it their staple food until quite recent 
years. Then there are the great ilex trees, or 
holm oaks — whose acorns take two years to ripen 
— giving a wealth of shade on hot summer 
days. 

When it comes to describing the fruit trees 
of this sunny land, we must turn once more to 
Dean Hole. " Interspersed with the oranges 
and the figs," he says, " we have trees of the 
almond, the peach, nectarine, apricot, mulberry, 
Japanese medlar, plum, cherry, pear, apple, and 
quince ; the bloom of these fruit trees amid the 
evergreens, in March, is a sight to make an old 
man young. We can see blossoms on the almond, 
not pink, like our bitter almonds, but white, 
with roseate centres as large as a crown piece ; 
and, when these are gone, when — as it has been 
prettily said by a French writer, " L'amandier 
va mourir sous sa tunique blanche," then the 
peach flowers are still more winsome. They 
who have admired the peach tree in bloom, upon 
the trellis under glass, or on the southern wall, 
may well imagine its glory when released from 
captivity, from wires, from shreds and nails — 
a tree in its integrity, symmetry, and strength, 
with a blossom upon every spur ; here smiling 
amid the orange trees, green and golden, and 
there contrasting its warm flush of beauty with 



242 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

the pale flowers of the cherry, or with the deep 
blue sky which we see overhead as we stand 
beneath its boughs. After the peach blossoms 
the Judas tree (so-called from the tradition 
that when the traitor hanged himself upon it, its 
flowers changed from white to red) consoles 
with an efflorescence almost as charming, of a 
deeper but somewhat duller red." 

The oleander flourishes ; " rose-laurier " is its 
pretty French name, which recalls a letter of 
Madame de Sevigne, written in her own incom- 
parable style. Her grandson, the little Marquis 
de Grignan, still a boy, and burning to distinguish 
himself in warfare, had joined the French troops, 
who were at that time besieging Nice, as a 
volunteer. His grandmother soon got him 
appointed to the command of a troop of horse, 
and he wrote her several charming letters. 
Commenting on them to a friend, she writes a high 
encomium of the beauty of Nice and its gardens, 
an enthusiasm caught from her boy grandson's 
letters, in which he tells her that the very 
fascines which were cut for siege purposes were 
of scented lemon and oleander wood. This plant, 
none the less, shares with the abundant peri- 
winkle the reputation of being poisonous. 
Bamboo grows into clumps of great size and 
beauty, but never flowers on the Riviera. The 



GARDEN OF SAINT BARTHELEMY 243 

asphodel is extinct in Nice, but may still be 
found at La Petite Afrique, behind Beaulieu. 

The pomegranate and the pistachio are other 
trees which flourish here, both originally brought 
from the East. The caper shrub, which loves 
heat, clings along many a wall. It still retains 
its ancient Greek name " tapenos," which means 
" creeping." It is remarkable that the fruit of 
this shrub is not preceded by the flower, as in 
other plants, but is formed from the bud itself. 
But there is no end to the Riviera flowers, and 
mention of them all would require a book — 
not a chapter. In spring-time the wealth of 
colour is astounding ; roses — red, white, and 
yellow — are everywhere, the white or pale yellow 
clusters of the Banksia climbing riotously over 
everything which they meet, twisting themselves 
into the gloomy foliage of the cypresses, or 
festooning the olives with garlands. The crude 
magenta of the Bougainvillea — or its more 
artistic brick-red variety — from the very bril- 
liancy of the atmosphere, harmonises with the 
pale plumbago, whose delicate silver-blue blossoms 
require a hot-house heat in England. Carna- 
tions of every hue grow to impossible sizes, 
and the flaming salvia, and the bursting red 
peony, are in every garden, their want of perfume 
atoned for by the omnipresent fragrance of the 



244 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

delicate freesias. Oh ! these gardens of the 
Riviera, how beautiful they are ; yet with the 
beauty of modernity ; for they spread them 
in the blaze of the noonday sun, and welcome the 
noise and the bustle and the riot of life. Few 
of the dear old mysterious Italian gardens of the 
past still survive in Nice, the land is too valuable, 
and bricks and mortar more remunerative than 
peaceful walls and wild unrestrained flower-beds. 
One of the few which still exist is that of the 
Villa Arson, at Saint Barthelemy, a delightful 
survival with its long alleys of dark cypress trees, 
and its grottos and pavilions embowered in a 
glowing wealth of Banksia roses. The family of 
Arson was one of the oldest in the County of 
Nice, but is now extinct. In the depth of the 
garden is shown a table in an arbour, at which, 
in 1860, the Plenipotentiaries of the French and 
Italian Governments lunched together on the 
day when Nice was handed over to France. 
Talleyrand, who visited the villa in 1816, is 
reported to have said, " Could I have believed 
that this country was so beautiful, I would have 
opposed its restoration to the House of Savoy," 
in allusion to the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15, 
which gave back to the King of Sardinia all his 
former States. 

On the outskirts of the town, a little further 



GROTTO OF SAINT ANDRE 245 

than the Villa Arson, is that strange rent in the 
mountain-side known as the Vallon Obscur. 
The origin of the name may be either " valloun," 
a torrent, in the local patois, or in ordinary 
French " vallon," a little valley. Monsieur 
Edouard Arene, in his charming work entitled 
" Nice Autrefois," tells us that its old name was 
Vallon des Etoiles, because in full daylight the 
stars could be seen through the narrow fissure 
through which a scrap of blue sky appeared 
beyond the tops of the two cliffs, where they 
almost met. The promenade is still unspoilt ; 
it is delightfully situated, full of coolness and 
songs of birds, of hedges of roses, of wild flowers 
and moss, and the tiny hepaticas which are to be 
picked in spring all over the place. The little 
rills of clear water dance round the mossy rocks, 
and the valley closes in on either side, until the 
walls are almost touching. 

The same author tells us of the Grotto of Saint 
Andre, some three or four miles from the town. 
Saint Andre is a mile or so beyond the Abbey of 
Saint Pons, from which it was originally an 
offshoot. Later it became a fief of the family 
of Thaon de Revel, Counts of Saint Andre, 
which gave many devoted servants, soldiers, or 
judges to the House of Savoy, and which re- 
mained faithful to that allegiance when Nice 



246 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

became French. The Chateau where the 
Seigneurs lived has been transformed into 
municipal offices, and the chapel has become the 
parish church. But the attraction of Saint 
Andre is the grotto with its petrifying waters. 
It is very beautiful, this long cavern, through 
which the torrent dashes tumultuously, full of 
stalactites and stalagmites — the entrance almost 
masked with a green curtain of tender maiden- 
hair fern. Many authors have written on its 
beauties, and Lamartine composed a poem on 
it. The forest which clothed the hill-sides 
round has been wantonly destroyed during the 
past few years, and the noble stone-pines 
and venerable plane trees have entirely dis- 
appeared, their place being taken, but by no 
means filled, by scanty plantations of ragged 
eucalyptus. 

The Grotto of Falicon, called by the country 
people the Grotto of "Li Ratapignata " (the 
bats), contains a great number of these animals. 
It was discovered in the year 1803, and is some 
fifty feet in depth, access being obtained to it by 
ladders. Many fossil bones have been found here, 
and Dr. Naudot affirmed that he found portions 
of the skeleton of a hyena, which would date 
it back to prehistoric times. This word for 
" bat," " ratapignata," literally " winged rat," 



BIRD LIFE— THE GREEN LIZARD 247 

seems to be analogous with the old English word 
" flittermouse." 

The birds of Nice are few, for the silly sports- 
man prefers to see the tiny songsters on the end 
of a string to hearing their paeans of praise in the 
woods and fields. He is great on Sundays in the 
autumn, and his bag may consist of a couple of 
thrushes and a robin : slaughtered at the ex- 
penditure of some half-hundred cartridges. The 
swallows wing their way back from their winter 
quarters between the middle of March and the 
middle of April. A record of their arrival, kept 
for over twenty years, never shows them earlier 
than March 19th, or later than April 15th. 
Sometimes it is claimed that they have been seen 
earlier, but it will generally be found that these 
birds are sand-martins, who the late Sir Thomas 
Hanbury (no mean authority) affirmed remained 
here all the winter, though rarely to be seen. 
Nightingales arrive in April, and nest in large 
numbers ; they go north when it gets too hot, 
taking the young birds with them. Early in the 
spring the ubiquitous mosquito awakes to life, 
and the little green frogs start croaking their 
nightly choruses. Later on come the dragon- 
fiies by day, and the myriad fireflies by night. 
The little sun lizard is always to be seen even in 
winter when the sun is warm enough ; and the 



248 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

green lizard is quite common round Nice — the 
natives call him " Lambert " ; he is easily tamed. 
The " ocellata " is described in " Riviera Nature 
Notes " as a miniature crocodile, with his gaping 
mouth and wriggling gait. Nothing can be more 
beautiful than the colours of this animal just 
after he has changed his skin ; they appear to be 
marked with burnished gold. When captured 
they bite bravely, but are not strong enough to 
hurt. The peasants accuse the ocellata of 
eating grapes ; it is seen up to three thousand 
feet, or over. 



CHAPTER XII 

The industries of the Riviera — Wine — Scent — Dried fruits — The 
extinct tunny fishery — Pottery — The spread of gambling. 

NICE has never given its name to any of its 
numerous industries as have other towns 
of no greater fame, yet they still exist and flourish 
while the others have passed into the oblivion of 
dead days, and are no longer even a name to 
which any meaning is attached. The ancient 
city of Cordova may be searched from end to end 
without discovering a trace of the manufacture 
of the leather with which its name is indissolubly 
bound up. No fragrant pale double blooms of the 
violet are to be found in the mediaeval gardens of 
old Parma ; and the famous steel of Toledo is 
only extant nowadays in inferior inlay. But the 
manufactures of the Riviera exist as they have 
always done, and though they be not very great, 
nor very numerous either, yet they are worthy 
of a passing word. 

This fertile country produces no vintages 
such as those of Burgundy and Bordeaux ; its 
wine is of a poor quality as a rule, and of no 
historic fame. Yet a bottle of Bellet or Saint 

249 



250 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Georges is by no means to be despised, and years 
ago there was to be found a pink wine of Saint 
Pancrace which was well worth the trouble of 
carrying to town; but it is a truism that good 
wine is always to be had if we know where to 
look for it. Marechal de Catinat, writing from the 
camp at Macel, on August 26th, 1696, to Monsieur 
de la Fare, Governor of Nice, who had sent him 
some wine of Bellet, says, " You ask me what I 
thought of the wine which you sent me. Without 
compliment, you may be certain that I found 
it excellent, and consider it superior to any of 
the French wines which we have here, although 
they are good vintages, and well selected. Your 
memory should be kept green in the County of 
Nice, not only on account of your excellent 
administration, but even more surely, should the 
inhabitants succeed in continuing to make such 
good wine in their country as has been produced 
there under your auspices." 

The chief products of the Cote l'Azur have 
always been perfumes, olive oil, and dried fruits ; 
and these have become highly flourishing in- 
dustries of late years. At the beginning of the 
nineteenth century the commerce of Nice appears 
to have been very trifling, its exports consisting 
of olive oil, oranges and lemons, and essences, 
whilst its imports were clothes, linen, hosiery, 



INDUSTRIES OF THE RIVIERA 251 

cutlery, spices, sugar, coffee, etc. A considerable 
quantity of salt was also brought here from 
Provence and Languedoc. Most of the exports 
went to Piedmont, which sent in return rice 
and cattle. It was stated that after the French 
Revolution the quantity of cattle imported 
diminished considerably, and on that account 
it was difficult to obtain good beef at Nice, for 
that of the neighbourhood was indifferent. This 
is much the same even at the present day, 
when all the prime joints of beef come either 
from Lyons or Paris, or even from London. The 
small mutton appears always to have been ap- 
preciated, perhaps on account of the aromatic 
plants with which the country abounds. 

The official report of the Prefet of the Alpes 
Maritimes to the Government in Paris for the 
year 1806 is worth reproducing, as showing that 
the town of Nice suffered at the time somewhat 
severely commercially, as a result of its incorpora- 
tion with France. This document states that 
the inclusion of Genoa in the French Empire had 
struck a mortal blow to the commerce of Nice. 
Formerly, all the merchandise which came 
from France, Italy, Holland, England, and the 
countries of the North of Europe, which was 
destined for Piedmont, Milan, and Lombardy, 
passed through Nice, and over the Col de Tenda, 



252 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

which assured to the port and district of Nice 
the perpetual arrival of cargo boats and ships, 
while as many as two hundred thousand bales of 
merchandise passed through the town annually, 
the taxes on which amounted to a large sum 
in the course of the year. These advantages had 
now disappeared, all trade having been diverted 
to Genoa and Savona. The only commerce 
which remained to Nice was the interchange of 
local produce such as oil, wine, fruit, and silk. 
The trade in these goods, it was hoped, would 
continue to flourish both in the interior and 
abroad, on account of their excellence, which was 
due to the climate of the district. To com- 
pensate in some measure for the loss of trade 
with Italy and Piedmont, a demand was made 
on behalf of Nice and those communes which 
were on the route to Piedmont, that all salt 
destined for that country should be made to pass 
through Nice ; that warehouses for this purpose 
should be constructed at the port of Nice ; and 
that a main road should be opened up from Nice 
to Grenoble. 

Details of the local manufactures at this period 
show that there were fourteen silk mills at Nice 
itself, employing two hundred and fifty work- 
men for three or four months in each year, and 
several more in the country districts. The 



SCENT 253 

scent industry had sunk to almost nothing, but 
candle factories and tanneries were flourishing. 
The manufacture of chamois leather had almost 
ceased, but a certain amount of soap was made, 
although the successful competition of Marseilles 
and Grasse was somewhat severe. There was a 
flourishing tobacco factory, and experiments 
were being made to grow tobacco locally. 

Negrin, writing later, when Nice was once 
more Italian, says that the low price of money 
and the heavy duties laid on foreign goods 
were the reasons why the commerce of Piedmont 
was rather confined — to which must be added the 
scruples of the Custom House officers to let 
foreign goods enter, even after the duties had been 
paid. The quantity of mulberry trees which 
were planted nearly everywhere in Piedmont, 
and in parts of the country round Nice, showed 
that silk was no inconsiderable article of trade. 
It was indeed a very principal commodity in 
Turin and at Nice ; a certain as well as an 
abundant source of defraying taxes, and condu- 
cing to an extensive commerce in exchange for 
other merchandise. At this period a heavy im- 
position was laid on land, so as to encourage the 
growth of mulberry trees, as the Government 
promised that the burden of this tax should 
be diminished in proportion to the number 



254 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of mulberry trees planted in each field, and 
to the quantity of silk produced. Until the 
Revolution in France holders enjoyed the ad- 
vantage of this Royal grant, and even held their 
territory free of duty. So effective was this 
edict, and so productive to the country people, 
that the manufacturer no longer had to purchase 
silk from the Milanese or the Venetians, nor 
had the Government any cause for complaint 
as to the want of trees to nourish silkworms. 
The silk stockings manufactured here at that 
time were said to be of better quality than those 
which were made in Languedoc and Paris. 

The scent factories of the Maritime Alps are 
famous, and in the spring-tide the fragrant 
fields of flowers all along the country-side 
scatter their sweet odours over acres of highly 
cultivated ground. The industry is a profitable 
one, and provides occupation for a very large 
proportion of the rustic population. In the 
factories it is a charm to eye and sense of smell 
to see and scent the piled-up heaps of roses, 
violets, jonquils, carnations, and all the fragrant 
flora of this sunny Southern land, massed in 
bright-coloured heaps before being crushed for 
the extraction of their essence. 

The flower harvest begins in May, but August 
is the month when the industry is at its height, 



DRIED FRUITS 255 

and in certain localities the scent of the flowers 
is almost overwhelming. The jasmine blooms 
are often as large as a florin, and their perfume, 
mingled with the penetrating, rather sickly 
sweetness of the tuberoses, is almost too strong 
to be pleasant. Fields of fragrant mignonette 
give way to the patches of mint, lavender, rose- 
mary, thyme, and other scented herbs, some of 
which are used for distilling liqueurs as well as for 
perfumes. 

The dried fruit industry in Nice is still largely 
conducted in the old primitive fashion. Early 
in the winter, towards the further extremity 
of the Promenade des Anglais, great sheets may 
be seen spread on the seashore, on which are 
drying the curled rinds of thousands of oranges 
and lemons. The soft salt breezes impregnate 
them with a delicious flavour, in addition to their 
own characteristic taste, and Nice orange and 
lemon peel is highly esteemed in its own market. 

The olive tree, in addition to providing oil and 
firewood, is widely used, on account of its varied 
and beautiful grain, for conversion into a thou- 
sand objects which are sold as souvenirs of the 
South. 

What was at one time a flourishing industry 
here was the tunny fishery, but it has long since 
ceased to exist, although it still appears in new 



256 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

editions of various inaccurate guide-books. The 
little village of Saint Jean was the centre of it, 
and it gave employment to a large number of 
people. Brunei writes, in 1857, that in the month 
of April, a couple of years previously, this 
fishery attained quite unaccustomed proportions, 
and in a single day more than four thousand 
tunny were captured there. The tunny comes 
into the Mediterranean about the middle of 
April, and used to follow both sides of the coast 
up to the Black Sea, which it enters ; in the 
month of August it returns and disappears in 
the Atlantic Ocean until the following year, 
so that it is in the Atlantic that it breeds so 
profusely. The tunny fishery is often mentioned 
in classical times for its importance ; it was a 
favourite food of the Carthaginians, who always 
served it at wedding feasts. At Abdera and in 
some of the cities of Greece the fish was con- 
sidered sacred. The method employed by the 
ancients for catching the tunny has not changed 
much ; it may be seen on the northern coast of 
Africa. The fishermen go out at night with 
braziers in the prow of their barques ; the fish 
are attracted to the flame, and they are speared 
as they leap towards it. The fish arrive in 
masses, and follow a regular line like troops 
on the march ; they sometimes weigh as much as 



TUNNY FISHERY— POTTERY 257 

fifteen stone. Why the tunny should have 
given up following the northern coast of the 
Mediterranean is not clear, but they certainly 
did so, for no great numbers of them have been 
seen for many years, and the fishery at Saint 
Jean had ceased in 1860. 

There are several well-known pottery factories 
in and near Nice, where products of very artistic 
design are turned out, many being reproduced 
from exquisite Persian and Eastern originals, 
dating back to the best early periods. 

Such are the principal of the avowed industries 
of Nice, but there is another which looms larger 
than these, which it is not so easy to describe. 
If we may assume that by the word " industry " 
we mean some employment which provides 
work for a large number of people, and circulates 
a great deal of money, then all these recognized 
trades sink into insignificance before that all- 
pervading profession of gambling which has 
sprung up like a grain of mustard seed in the hot- 
house atmosphere of the Riviera during the 
past few years ; increasing so fast that it is now 
a spreading tree in whose branches come to roost 
the fowl of the air from all parts of the globe. 
The pigeons stand but little chance from the 
hawks, and the vultures are ready to devour the 
carcases of either. 



258 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Gambling is a necessary evil, which it is neither 
possible nor even desirable to entirely eradicate 
from a mixed community ; but that it should 
be hedged round with real barriers is a proposition 
not to be gainsaid. In a properly constituted 
club, where no one can play for more than he 
puts on the table, the player must be his own 
judge as to what he can afford to stake, or take 
the consequences. That is not a matter for 
outside interference. 

But far different is it while magnificent and 
costly establishments are kept up with the 
greatest luxury, practically never closed day or 
night, which openly make gambling their raison 
d'etre, and draw vast revenues from it. The 
finest operatic and dramatic performances are 
provided at very reasonable prices — so reason- 
able, in fact, that they could not be given without 
some additional source of income — restaurants 
of the first order are attached to them, so that 
there shall be no need for the visitors to leave 
the building, and the entr'actes of the plays 
and operas given are drawn out to inordinate 
length, so as to enable the audience to gamble, 
with the result that the intervals during the 
evening frequently exceed the time taken up by 
the performance. In addition to these public 
gambling rooms, a club is attached to each 



THE SPREAD OF GAMBLING 259 

establishment, where play goes on practically 
all night, and the formality of membership is 
reduced to farcical proportions. 

The benefits which accrue from this state of 
things amount to this, that the establishments 
in question — apart from their ability to provide 
the very finest productions with the first artists 
in the world — are able to afford to pay very 
large sums of money into the exchequer of the 
city, which are used for its embellishment, 
and for the carrying out of many necessary 
public works, the cost of which would otherwise 
have to be raised by taxation. They also provide 
steady employment for a very large number of 
persons during the winter months. 

But when that has been said, there is nothing 
more. Let us look at the other side. Putting 
aside entirely the moral aspect of gambling, 
which does not enter into the argument here, 
does the town collectively, or its citizens in- 
dividually, derive any real benefit from the 
state of things which has recently come to exist ? 

The answer should be emphatically in the 
negative. In late years we have seen well- 
known restaurants (some of them of world-wide 
reputation), one after the other compelled to 
close on account of their inability to compete 
with those which rely on the secondary source 



260 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of income which is denied to their outside com- 
petitors. The death-blow has been given to the 
club — as we know the word in England, and it 
can never be resurrected so long as the present 
regime lasts. But what is far more serious is 
the general loss which is affecting the commerce 
of the town in almost every branch. The class 
of people who are attracted by the unparalleled 
gambling facilities now offered on the Riviera, 
is fast driving away the solid members of the 
various foreign colonies, who annually passed 
six months in their own villas, and spent money 
freely in entertaining, and in the shops of various 
kinds. These no longer come, the new element 
bewilders their more steady and old-fashioned 
ideas ; they find prices advancing by leaps and 
bounds, and the class of society distinctly 
deteriorating ; so they come no more. 

What, too, is the shopkeeper's complaint ? 
Jewellers assert that while their rents have gone 
up, their receipts are daily going down ; the 
money which would formerly have been spent in 
jewellery for presents or personal adornment 
now disappears at baccarat. The dressmakers' 
complaint is similar ; costly gowns are ordered, 
but when they are delivered the money to pay 
for them has disappeared at the gambling tables, 
and they are left on their hands. 



THE SPREAD OF GAMBLING 261 

With a glittering vision of turning their weekly 
pittance into a sheaf of bank-notes, the small 
employes run to throw on their francs, and the 
loss of them only leads to further losses. No, 
the gambling industry is one which might well 
be dispensed with in Nice ; the attractions of 
the town are great enough without it, and the 
sooner the City Fathers make up their minds 
to this fact, the better will the foreign colonies 
be pleased, nor will the town suffer in the long 
run. 



CHAPTER XIII 

The rivers of Nice — Great floods and storms in history — Cold years 
and earthquakes— Epidemics — The beginnings of Nice as a health 
resort — Difficulties of access — Gradual development — The annexa- 
tion and the making of the railway — The position of Nice to-day. 

PEOPLE pay little heed to the River Paillon 
since it has been covered over with gardens, 
and hidden away underground, and few ever 
even know of its existence ; for the average 
visitor does not explore its valleys — the road to 
Monte Carlo is the only one he cares about. 
But to the Nicois Paillon was like Father Tiber 
to the Romans, a river god who was best pro- 
pitiated, for at times his fury wrought destruction 
with no light hand. In olden days, says Theodore 
de Banville, when the snows melted in spring 
on the Alps, it was customary for a man to walk 
along the bed of the torrent blowing a trumpet. 
As his first blasts were heard, the market 
women cleared away their stalls, and with a cry 
of " Paglion ven," sought safety before the 
rushing waters wore their way to the sea in an 
irresistible flood, uprooting palm trees and 

262 




f If >H 




THE RIVERS OF NICE 263 

oranges, and racing into the Mediterranean in a 
tawny disorder, which turned the azure of 
its waves to a dull gold. It can still swell to a 
considerable extent, for in its course to the sea 
the Paillon receives the waters of seven other 
mountain torrents. 

The other river of Nice is the Var, which gives 
its name to a Department which it does not now 
go near. The usual derivation of its name is the 
Latin word " varus," from the irregularity of 
its flood, which is almost nil in summer, and yet 
rolls down in great volume in the spring-time. 
The Greek name of the river, however, was 
" Ouaros," the root of which, " ar," " ouar," is 
clearly Celtic, and certainly few rivers are more 
capricious in their course, or more uncertain in 
their flood. 

Great rains and floods — more especially in 
connection with these two rivers — have been 
recorded at divers epochs in the known history 
of Nice. The earliest of which record has been 
kept appears to have been a six months' down- 
pour in 1330, and lengthy and violent storms 
in the years 1345 and 1346. Nothing further 
under this heading is recorded until October 9th, 
1;j30, when the Var and the Paillon flooded all 
the plain of Nice. The crops were completely 
destroyed, walls crumbled, houses fell down, 



264 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

and trees were uprooted. The Pont Saint Antoine 
(as the Pont Vieux was then called) was swept 
away, and it was impossible to cross the river ; 
the victims of this disastrous flood were numer- 
ous. The bridge was immediately reconstructed 
by the care of the Consuls and the Bishop, in 
accordance with the plans of the Piedmontese 
architect, Amadeo Besten. It appears that 
during the siege of the town by Barbarossa, in 
1543, two arches of this bridge were destroyed, 
and were rebuilt a couple of years later under 
the direction of the architect Libanchi. When 
the new route to Turin was made, in 1782, an 
embankment was built along the left bank of 
the river, from the point known as Ribei Rousset, 
to a spot called Carail, almost opposite the 
monastery of Saint Pons. 

On August 15th, 1601, Nice was under water 
from the combined torrents of the Paillon and 
the Var, the town itself was flooded, and in the 
suburbs men and beasts were drowned and 
swept out to sea without its being possible to 
give them any help. This was one of the worst 
disasters of the kind on record here. 

On November 10th, 1613, which was Saint 
Martin's Day, there was a storm of such extra- 
ordinary violence that it gave rise to a saying 
which is still employed to-day, when a deluge of 



GREAT FLOODS AND STORMS 265 

rain is referred to, as " la tempesta de San 
Martin " ; this storm ravaged the whole coast, 
all the houses built on the shore were swept 
away, and the vessels anchored in Villefranche 
harbour were badly damaged. Among them 
were six Neapolitan galleys which had taken 
refuge in the inner port. An English ship was 
lost, and a number of fishing boats sunk off 
Cap Saint Hospice. 

On September 28th, 1616, the Paillon carried 
away part of the wall of the Porte Saint Antoine ; 
and the Var overflowed both its banks. The 
Vesubie flooded the village of Lantosque, when 
twenty-two houses collapsed, and many people 
were drowned. 1631 was called " the year of the 
deluge," and the Var was in flood to such an 
extent that the stone bridge at Entraunes 
and the wooden one at Fougent were carried 
away. 

In 1694 torrential rains caused the collapse of a 
hill at Luceram, which did immense damage. 
On November 28th, in the same year, the parts of 
Nice round the port and Ponchettes were in- 
undated, and swept by the sea and the rain. 
The Bishop Provana and his clergy went to the 
beach to make intercession against further 
ravages of the sea. 

Again, in 1744, the fall of water was so con- 



266 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

siderable, and the Paillon so extremely aug- 
mented, that a large number of French and 
Spanish soldiers were lost in attempting to cross 
it during an engagement with some Piedmontese 
troops ; on this occasion six officers and three 
hundred men are said to have perished. Great 
storms are again recorded in 1751, 1756, 1774, 
1775, and 1776. In the latter year the Paillon 
devastated the country-side, huge landslips took 
place in the valley of the Vesubie, near Roque- 
billiere, and the mountain called Col de Bel 
collapsed and buried several victims, causing 
much destruction in the district of Coaraze. 
A lake was formed where the mountain had been, 
which existed until the last day of December, 
1786. 

On November 8th, 1774, when the festival 
" dei catre Encouronat " (the four martyrs) was 
being observed in the Cathedral, the Paillon 
burst its banks and flooded the whole of the 
old town. In 1792, on the morrow of the entry 
of the French troops into Nice, it rained in 
torrents for twelve consecutive days, and it 
was impossible to pass the Var. The French 
built a foot-bridge over the river as soon as the 
flood had abated. Much damage was done on 
October 31st, 1796, when the Paillon again 
burst its banks, and carried away the bridge 



GREAT FLOODS AND STORMS 267 

where the Casino Municipal now stands. Great 
floods took place in 1802 and 1803. 

On July 26th, and again on August 2nd, 1834, 
storms of hail damaged all the district round the 
town. Later in the same year a ship from 
Genoa went on the rocks at Ponchettes, and 
succour seemed impossible. The clergy of Nice, 
in their vestments, and the civil authorities, 
stood high above the wreck, and the Bishop 
gave the Absolution to the crew kneeling on the 
wave-swept deck. But they were not drowned, 
for a Greek barque was able to stand in and 
take them off in safety, though their vessel was a 
total loss. 

In 1837 the Paillon left its bed near Saint 
Roch, and made a new channel down to the 
port, sweeping away everything in its passage. 
The water rose above the level of the Pont Vieux, 
and the bridge between the Place Massena 
and the Place Charles Albert (which had been 
built seven years previously) was entirely 
destroyed ; the Var also did much damage. 
The population of the town attributed these 
disasters to the delay in erecting the votive 
church of Notre Dame des Graces ; the municipal 
authorities fell in with their view, and the Eglise 
du Vceu was forthwith built. 

There was another great flood of the Var in 



268 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

1841, in consequence of which important works 
were carried out to strengthen its banks. 
Measures were taken at the same time to prevent 
further floods from the Paillon, and though heavy 
rainfalls are recorded for the years 1848, 1852, 
1855, 1857, 1879, and 1882, no serious damage 
again occurred. Nowadays both rivers are so 
well dammed, and led into such safe channels 
that they " roar as gently as any sucking doves," 
and all fear of flood has long since passed away. 

Of equal interest to these great storms and 
floods are the records of the cold years in Nice. 
These go back just as far, and are the more 
remarkable when we consider the average winter 
climate which we now enjoy. The following 
data were collected by Doctor G. H. Brandt, by 
whose courtesy they are now first reproduced 
here. 

In the years 1302, 1364, 1460, 1506, and 1563 
the cold was so intense on the Riviera that the 
orange trees were frozen. In 1623 again the 
temperature became suddenly so low that the 
Paillon was covered with ice, the water running 
under it. In 1706 the month of January was 
so intensely cold that all the fruit trees, and 
most of the olives, were literally burnt black 
with the cold. 

In 1709 the Duke of Savoy was waging war 



I 

f 





COLD YEARS AND EARTHQUAKES 269 

with the King of France, and Nice was the centre 
of hostilities. Fortunately, the winter arrived, 
and cold set in with such intensity that opera- 
tions were forcibly suspended. On February 13th 
in this year an icy cold wind blew violently, 
bringing dark clouds over Nice ; in a few hours 
the whole country was covered with snow to a 
depth of three feet. Suddenly the clouds dis- 
appeared ; the frost was intense during the 
night, and not only vines, orange and olive 
trees, but even the trees which grow in the 
most northern climes were utterly destroyed. 
The degree of cold was put down at this epoch 
at nine degrees Reaumur below zero. Chestnut 
and walnut trees were not spared ; and according 
to a statement made by the Notary Scalier, 
only two young olive trees, situated in a sheltered 
spot on the Castle hill, were saved ; every 
tree was cut down on a level with the ground, 
and after a time they began to throw up new 
shoots. The result of this intense cold was 
the cause of a serious famine, which spread all 
over the country, and was felt for more than a 
year. The municipal authorities were obliged 
to supply the inhabitants, as well as the troops, 
with daily bread. 

No cold winter was felt again until 1767, by 
which time Nice had ceased to be the seat of 



270 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

war-like scenes, and begun to attract visitors 
and invalids. On January 7th in this year, snow 
and an icy cold wind raged fiercely, and com- 
pletely destroyed all the gardens in the town. 
The winter of 1775-6, which was so extremely 
cold all over Europe, and even in Italy, was not 
so much felt in Nice — according to the opinion 
of Sulzer, one of the earliest writers on its climate. 
He says that no snow fell, and that the ice in 
the puddles had always melted by nine o'clock. 
The worst part of this winter was during the 
months of January and February, when cold 
winds and heavy rains prevailed. 

In 1785 Reaumur's thermometer registered 
two degrees below zero, whilst at Genoa it went 
down as low as eight degrees below zero. In 
1789, on January 11th, the heavens were covered 
with dark, dense clouds, snow fell in large flakes 
during the whole day, until it was eight inches 
thick ; Reaumur's thermometer marked between 
eight and nine degrees below zero. Lemon and 
orange trees were destroyed down to their roots, 
a few trees in sheltered places were saved, but 
most of the olive trees were frozen ; even the 
trees which resisted the intense cold had their 
branches torn down by the weight of the snow. 
A large number of shepherds and beasts of the 
field were found dead, frozen and buried in the 



COLD YEARS AND EARTHQUAKES 271 

snow. Many trees were split from top to bottom. 
1792 and 1799 were also years of great cold, and 
in 1802 the thermometer during six consecutive 
days fell below zero, and there was ice several 
inches thick, which was recorded by Fodere as 
an extraordinary occurrence. 

Intense frosts in the winter of 1819 destroyed 
all the olive trees from Marseilles to the Esterels ; 
and in the following year, on January 11th, 
Risso, the naturalist, observed a fall in the 
temperature to six degrees Reaumur below zero. 
This intense cold only lasted half an hour, but 
was sufficient to wither up all the orange trees, 
which had to be cut down to the ground to save 
them. 

In 1737 fell one of the heaviest of snowfalls 
on record here ; it was more than half a foot 
deep, and in some places coated with ice. Since 
then snowfalls have been occasionally recorded. 
According to annual observations carried out by 
Richelmi, and continued by Teisseyre, during a 
period of thirty years, it follows that the mean 
temperature of Nice during the winter months 
between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. is eight degrees 
above zero centigrade, which is two degrees 
warmer than Rome. In some winters the 
temperature never goes below zero. 

Earthquakes, fortunately, have not been very 



272 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

numerous in the history of Nice. According to 
certain Italian manuscripts found in the Public 
Library, we find that in 1752 there was one 
occurred at that day very much resembling 
that of 1887 in its intensity. It was on February 
16th, 1852, that the next was noted, accom- 
panied by a terrific rumbling. Three shocks 
were felt, the first being the strongest, lasting — 
in the quaint phrase of the writer — " half an 
Ave Maria " ; all the inhabitants jumped out of 
their beds and ran into the street. This occurred 
at a quarter to five in the morning of Ash 
Wednesday, and many people who were still 
dancing at the final Carnival Veglione ran into 
the open air. A quarter of an hour afterwards 
two other shocks were felt. The coincidences 
of time and epoch are very remarkable, for 
as a century occurred between these two earth- 
quakes, so in 1887 did the phenomenon exactly 
repeat the conditions of that of 1852, since it 
happened at five in the morning of Ash Wednes- 
day. 

During the seventeenth century there were 
four earthquakes (1612, 1618, 1637, and 1644), 
but no one was injured, and the damage done 
was insignificant. In the sixteenth century the 
Italian manuscript mentions one in 1564, at 
seven in the evening, on July 20th. The shock 



COLD YEARS AND EARTHQUAKES 273 

was a very heavy one, and caused great alarm 
throughout all the population of Nice and the 
surrounding country. J. B. Gastaldi, a Pied- 
montese savant, in his geographical chart traces 
the undulations of this earthquake, which, after 
destroying a great part of Nice and its environs, 
extended its ravages towards Villefranche and 
Escarene. At this latter place a mountain split 
in two, and out of the fissure flames and smoke 
were seen to spurt with great violence. The 
effect of this shock was seen at sea, for the waters 
in the harbour of Villefranche went down the 
length of a rod, and the surface of the water was 
covered with sea monsters and fish of unknown 
species ; the bottom of the harbour has since 
been observed to be lower. Among the places 
which suffered most were La Bollene and Roque- 
billiere. Honore Laurenti, in his manuscript 
book on Belvedere, says that at La Bollene 
a quarter of the population perished, and the 
course of the River Vesubie was stopped for some 
hours. He says that it divided several mountains 
into two, and that from the centre of each flames 
and smoke proceeded, so that at night the 
country looked as if it was surrounded by huge 
fires ; chasms opened large enough to receive 
entire mountains, and others fell with a frightful 
crash. At the moment when the shock was 



274 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

greatest, the sea rose and flooded Antibes, 
receding shortly afterwards, carrying everything 
in its current, and leaving the port almost dry. 
From these and other data it will be seen that 
Nice and its environs have usually been visited 
by earthquakes not oftener than once in a 
century. 

Recounting these and other misfortunes of the 
town of Nice, Davis, writing in 1807, says, that 
after the year 1748, improvements became more 
general, obliterating in some degree the scenes 
and devastation which Nice had so often been 
doomed to witness. But in the year 1799 an 
epidemic visited the town, which carried off a 
sixth part of the population. The first cause of 
the disease was the continual movement of the 
troops, for without exaggeration over a million 
passed through the town during the Revolution. 
It is well known that the armies were frequently 
in want of everything ; and bad nourishment 
and bad clothing were very soon followed 
by the most distressing consequences. The 
hospitals, which were soon crowded, could not 
'accommodate all the sick, a circumstance 
which obliged the inhabitants to lodge them 
in private houses; infection was by this means 
soon propagated, and every house became a 
lazzaretto. 



EPIDEMICS 275 

But these epidemics were occasioned by ex- 
ceptional circumstances, and but slightly re- 
tarded the advance of the town in popular 
favour as a health resort. It is true these early 
pioneers of the troops of winter visitors to 
which we are now accustomed must have had 
a not altogether luxurious or inexpensive time 
of it. In 1755 Lady Fitzgerald wrote to her 
daughter that most of the lodgings in Nice had 
either no glass in the windows, or had paper in 
its place. Smollett, a few years later, writes 
that a friend of his, understanding that he 
intended to winter in the South of France, 
strongly recommended to him the climate of 
Nice in Provence ; " which," he said, " I 
had indeed often heard extolled, and I am 
almost resolved to go thither, not only for the 
sake of the air, but also on account of its situa- 
tion on the Mediterranean." He thus estimates 
the cost of the trip : " The journey from Calais 
to Nice of four persons in a coach or two post- 
chaises, with a servant on horseback — travelling 
post — may be performed with ease for about 
a hundred and twenty pounds, including all 
expenses." 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century we 
find our friend, Doctor Davis, giving minute 
instructions as to how best to accomplish the 



276 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

journey, and the precautions to be observed 
on it. The difficulty with which travelling is 
attended in the southern parts of France, and 
the general want of comfortable bedding, are 
circumstances which he considers render it 
prudent for a delicate person to take a bed and 
blankets with him. He should, in the next 
place, take great care to avoid the evening 
air, which in the months of autumn is very 
apt to give cold, and he should commence 
his journey by short distances, augmenting 
them as he finds his strength capable of the 
fatigue. 

The traveller is told to expect a vast deal of 
shaking, whether he is in his own carriage or in 
one of the country's, a circumstance that is 
vexatious to everyone, and often detrimental 
to delicate women, especially in a state of 
pregnancy. People who are used to the roads in 
England can have no idea what a source of 
embarrassment they prove in France. In order, 
therefore, to avoid such inconvenience, the 
patient had better continue his route from 
Avignon to Nice by water, as by far the worst 
part of the road is from the former to the latter 
place. This, perhaps, might subject him to 
some difficulty, but the voyage would most 
likely contribute to his recovery, which would 



NICE AS A HEALTH RESORT 277 

not always be the case if he should travel by 
land. 

" Arrived at Nice, he should take a laxative 
draught, remain quiet for two or three days, 
live upon very light food, drinking diluted 
liquids, and by these means carry off any little 
heat or irritation the journey might produce. A 
suitable residence is not always the easiest 
thing to obtain. There are a number of hand- 
some houses in the Croix de Marbre, but," he 
thinks " they are too near the sea for consumptive 
people. The best adapted are those on the 
surrounding hills, which are not only the most 
pleasant, but the most healthy. They are less 
exposed to the evaporations of the sea, but are, 
it is true, rather difficult of access." Doctor 
Davis having thus, to his satisfaction, settled 
his patient in for the winter, thus further 
delivers himself as to the town of Nice. " The 
south-west quarter of the town," he says, " is 
the handsomest, and of modern architecture. 
The streets are wide, and run in a straight line ; 
the public walk is in this neighbourhood, and is 
a delightful resource " (does he mean resort ?) 
" in the summer, when the sun is above the 
horizon. Its beautiful scenery is, however, 
much obscured by the terrace which stretches 
along the coast. In the middle of the walk a 



278 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

fountain has been recently constructed, whereon 
a paltry figure has been erected, representing 
Catherine Sequeiran (sic), heroine of Nice, with a 
Turk at her feet, whom she had knocked down 
with a club. The fact to which this alludes 
constitutes a remarkable event in the history 
of Nice." Here we must leave the worthy 
doctor to the care of his consumptive patient, 
who would certainly not be encouraged to spend 
the winter in Nice nowadays. 

A description of the Croix de Marbre quarter, 
published somewhat earlier (1792), refers to it 
thus : " One of the quarters of the town is that 
of the Croix de Marbre, a marble cross. This 
suburb is new, and the English almost always 
lodge in it, being very near the town. . . . 
This suburb is now called Newborough (sic) ; 
all the houses are separate from each other ; 
the company hire them for the season, that is, 
from October to May. There are apartments to 
be had from fifteen to two hundred and fifty 
louis." 

In an old French pamphlet about this date, 
it is stated that "among English visitors in the 
year 1786 were the Duke of Bedfort (sic), the 
Duchess of Cumberland, Milady Rives nee Pitt, 
Milady Maynar (sic), and Lord Tasbourg (sic)." 
Milady Rives nee Pitt was so fascinated with 



GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT 279 

her sojourn, that the following year she built 
a large villa at Beaumettes, where later the 
celebrated astronomer Coopper (sic) constructed 
an observatory — now as non-existent as the 
fame of its presumed builder. 

For the first half of the nineteenth century 
there was little progress visible in Nice. The 
means of access were so difficult, and while a 
certain number of wealthy foreigners made it 
their winter residence, yet nothing occurred to 
rouse it to any appreciable extent. Its political 
role was done, the days of wars were at an end 
as far as Nice was concerned, and it slumbered 
placidly on in the dolce far niente fashion of a 
hundred other pleasant Italian towns. Then 
came the Annexation to France, and a breath 
of new life stirred the country, which the coming 
of the railway in the early sixties fanned into a 
vigour and energy hitherto unsuspected. From 
that day, Nice has never looked back, but has 
gone steadily on, advancing in the magnificence 
of her streets and buildings, and basking even 
more securely in the sunshine of popular favour. 
A true cosmopolitan capital, accessible in a few 
hours from no matter what corner of Europe, 
no matter what bitter clime : there she waits, 
with arms spread out in welcome, or lowered to 
scatter midsummer flowers in midwinter in the 



280 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

path of the welcome guest. Her Court is so 
opulent and splendid that she brooks no rival, 
but sits enthroned Mistress and Queen of all the 
stately winter cities of the sunny south. Semper 
floreat ! 



CHAPTER XIV 

The neighbourhood of Nice on the east of the Var — Mont Alban and 
its siege — The port of Villefranche — Duke Emmanuel Philibert's 
stud at Cap Ferrat — The Duchess and the corsair — The Saracen 
tower — Beaulieu and Olivula — The worship of Isis, and the vicissi- 
tudes of Eze — Contes — Chateauneuf, the deserted village — Luceram 
and Aspremont, their history — Mont Chauve — Pei'ra Cava and the 
Hinterland. 

THE country-side round Nice is of little less 
historical interest than the town itself, and 
many of these little brown villages perched on the 
mountain flanks have had fame in their day, and 
stood in the forefront of the battle. Those on 
the coast have naturally progressed with the 
times, but the inland towns have stood still, 
and besides retaining their picturesqueness of 
medievalism in outward form, their citizens 
are little less advanced than their ancestors. 
The numerous tramway lines, which of late 
years have sprung up in a network all round 
Nice, are doing wonders for these little places, 
bringing to their doors a prosperity of which 
they never previously dreamed; and now that 
the natural beauties of the country can be 
explored by motor-car, they are yearly getting 

better known. 

281 



282 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Means of communication in olden days were 
scant enough, people still living easily remember 
the time when Monte Carlo was not, and to get 
to Monaco it was necessary to take the Upper 
Corniche Road through La Turbie, and, descend- 
ing by Roquebrune, turn back and enter the 
principality from the east. 

The old road to Villefranche passed over Mont 
Alban, where, amid the pine woods, stands a 
famous old fort, the last outward and visible sign 
of Sardinian sway left here, though long ago out 
of date and useless. Built by Duke Emmanuel 
Philibert of Savoy in 1691, it was captured 
after a feeble resistance by Marechal de Catinat, 
and its commander, Capitaine de Saint Amant, 
was degraded and banished from the country 
for his precipitate surrender. Later, in 1744, 
it was gallantly defended by the Piedmontese 
against the French and Spaniards ; and so long 
was the siege that there arose a local proverb 
that " when the French should take Mont Alban, 
the hare should catch the hound." In 1792 the 
fort was given up to the French without re- 
sistance, and that was the last of its activity. 

Villefranche, in the near future destined to be 
the port of Nice, was founded close on six 
hundred years ago, the hamlet from which it 
sprung having come into existence in the early 



PORT OF VILLEFRANCHE 283 

years of the fourteenth century. It was due to 
the inhabitants of Olivula, which was a little 
town that had been built on the top of Mont 
Saint Michel, close to Beaulieu, to provide a safe 
retreat from the Saracens. After these pirates 
had been driven out of the country, Charles II, 
of Anjou, Count of Provence, was anxious to get 
the people of the district to settle on the edge of 
the sea, and so gave certain privileges to the 
villages which should be built on the shore, 
whence the name of " Cieutat franca " (ville 
franche), which was given to the new town. 

Its harbour is one of the finest natural ports 
in the world, and has an area of almost eight 
hundred and sixty- five acres. It was of very 
great importance to the Kings of Sardinia, as up 
to the year 1814 it was the only harbour which 
they possessed. Here, in 1538, came the Spanish 
and Genoese fleets, under the command of the 
Emperor Charles V, when he responded to the 
appeal of Pope Paul III to sign the Ten Years' 
Truce with Francis I of France. 

It was at Villefranche that Honore d'Urfe 
died, once so celebrated, whose memory has now 
fallen into oblivion. His passionate love for 
Diane de Chateau-Morand was the origin of the 
romance of " Astree." It is well known that his 
attachment was succeeded by the coldest in- 



284 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

difference when Diane became his wife. He left 
her and retired to the Court of Charles Em- 
manuel of Savoy to whom he was related on his 
mother's side, who was daughter of Claudius 
of Savoy, Count of Tenda, and Governor of 
Provence. He was taken ill at Nice and was 
moved here, where he died in 1625. Besides 
the romance of " Astree " — which was finished 
by Baro, his secretary — he wrote several other 
works, including a poem in stanzas, the subject 
of which is the departure, absence, and return 
of Sirene, that is, the author himself, who, under 
that name, sang his amours with Diane. 

The promontory which shelters Villefranche 
harbour, forming its eastern arm, is known as 
Cap Ferrat. King Leopold II of the Belgians, 
who, in the last years of his life, bought a con- 
siderable portion of the cape, and built on it, 
and beautified it by the creation of gardens, 
was not the first sovereign to pitch his tent 
there. Deeds are still in existence to prove that 
about 1559 Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy 
established a horse-breeding stud on Cap Ferrat, 
on land which he had leased from the Commune 
of Villefranche ; and later on his successors 
claimed to be the owners of this property, and not 
merely the lessees, which led to a famous lawsuit. 

To go back to the beginning of the story, this 



DUKE EMMANUEL PH1LIBERT 285 

Duke of Savoy was very fond of horses, and spent 
most of his income in buying them. In conse- 
quence of his great victory over Saint-Quentin, 
Philip II, King of Spain, crowned him with 
favours in witness of his gratitude. This was 
in 1557. Two years later, Henri II, King of 
France, wishing to secure his alliance, gave him 
his sister, Marguerite de Valois, to wife. Arrived 
at the pinnacle of his hopes, and having amassed 
a considerable fortune, the Duke was in a 
position to satisfy his passion for horses, and he 
bought all he could lay hands on of the finest 
pedigree stock, not only in Europe but in Arabia ; 
and so got together a stud such as no other 
sovereign possessed at that epoch. He then re- 
quested the Commune of Villefranche to lease him 
the land from Cap Ferrat to Saint Hospice, with 
a view to installing his stud there. The Cap was 
then a treeless, rocky promontory ; for in the 
last stand of the Saracens against the forces 
of Christendom, the latter had burnt the forest, 
which up to the eighth century had clothed the 
promontory. All that remained was a scanty 
herbage fit for the pasturage of the flocks of the 
Commune in winter. 

Villefranche agreed to the request made in the 
name of its Sovereign, and Cap Ferrat was leased 
to him at an annual rent of twenty-four golden 



286 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

crowns. Shortly afterwards, the Duke's horses 
were installed there, and he himself, during his 
frequent sojourns at Nice and Villefranche, 
often came to visit them. It was during one of 
these visits that the Duke was almost captured 
by a pirate of the name of Occhiali, a story 
which is related further on in this chapter. 

Emmanuel Philibert died in 1580, but his 
successor, Charles Emmanuel I (known later as 
the "Great " ), was just as fond of horses. He 
kept up the stud for some years after his acces- 
sion to the throne, and only suppressed it at the 
request of the Syndics of the town of Nice. 
Other considerations beside the wishes of the 
Nicois doubtless influenced the Prince in his 
decision. He was an ambitious sovereign, for 
he aspired to the throne of the Holy Roman 
Empire, and he was desirous of making Cap 
Ferrat a strategic position of the first order, to 
render the title of Count of Provence, which had 
been conferred upon him by the Leaguers in 
1559, an effective one. Imbued with his ideas, 
the officials of the County of Nice came to con- 
sider Cap Ferrat as part of the Crown lands, 
and ceased to pay any rent to Villefranche. 

On July 28th, 1606, the Commune claimed 
from the Duke of Savoy, in the first place, the 
restoration to the local authorities of the lands 



THE LAWSUIT SETTLED 287 

of Cap Ferrat and Saint Hospice, and secondly, 
the payment of three hundred and twelve golden 
crowns, the balance of the yearly rent which was 
due. The lawyers who represented the interests 
of Villefranche put the matter so forcibly that 
the Duke recognized their rights ; but, at the 
same time, he was anxious to keep possession 
of the property, and ordered his representatives 
at Nice to enter into negotiations to that effect. 
The pourparlers lasted three years, and it was 
not until April 11th, 1609, that the Duke con- 
sented to pay to the Commune of Villefranche 
the three hundred and twelve golden crowns 
which were due to it, and, in addition, to pay 
down immediately a further sum of three hundred 
golden crowns, with an annual rent in perpetuity 
of one golden crown for the concession by the 
Commune of the lands of Cap Ferrat and Saint 
Hospice on a lease in perpetuity to the reigning 
Duke and his successors. Charles Emmanuel I 
died in 1630, and in the reign of his successor, 
Victor Amadeus I, the administrators of the 
State Treasury refused to pay the annual golden 
crown agreed upon in the lease. The Commune 
protested, and in 1633 was summoned by the 
Royal officials to produce the title deeds of its 
alleged ownership over Cap Ferrat. This was 
not done, and the domain was declared to be a 



288 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

part of the Crown properties. The representa- 
tive of the Sovereign at this period was Jean 
Baptiste Auda, who died shortly after this event. 
He left two sons, the eldest of whom, Pierre Auda, 
succeeded him as Commissary for Exemptions 
for the County of Nice, and Jean Michel Auda, 
afterwards private physician to the Duke Charles 
Emmanuel II. 

These two brothers took up the matter in 
dispute with Villefranche with great energy. 
Profiting by his privileged situation in the Duke's 
household, Jean Michel Auda obtained an act 
of investiture from the Sovereign, which made 
him lord of the Commune of Villefranche over 
the heads of its elected representatives. These 
latter naturally objected with some vigour, but 
Doctor Auda, reckoning on his Court influence, 
treated Villefranche as his own property, gave 
it his orders, which were not carried out by the 
Syndics, and sent his officials there, who had no 
encouraging reception. 

A long series of incidents made the situation 
intolerable, and on January 25th, 1665, a 
respectful but firm protestation was sent to the 
Duke. The Sovereign recognized that they had 
the right to protest, although he pointed out 
that, in conferring the fief of Villefranche on his 
Doctor Auda, he had no intention of doing 



RENEWED LITIGATION 289 

anything prejudicial to the interests of so faithful 
a town, and the whole matter was referred to the 
Senate at Nice. When the case came on, the 
lawyers on both sides produced all sorts of 
ancient deeds in support of their respective 
cases, the defenders of Doctor Auda, and the 
officials who claimed the right of incorporating 
property appertaining to Villefranche in the 
domain of the Sovereign, invoked the following 
historical reasons : Among the territories which 
were given to Raymond Berenger by the Emperor 
Frederick was Provence, of which the County of 
Nice was a part. All the pasturage of this 
territory formed an integral part of this donation. 
Therefore, the House of Savoy, having acquired 
the County of Nice, has the same right. 

In defence of the interests of Villefranche, the 
lawyers brought out the following point : On 
August 10th, 1295, Charles II of Anjou, King of 
Naples and Jerusalem, Count of Provence and of 
Forcalquier, considering the importance of the 
harbour up to then known as Olivula, and the 
great convenience which would result for ship- 
ping, invited the inhabitants of the town of 
Olivula (perched up on the mountain-side) to 
come down and establish their residence on the 
shores of the harbour. To this end he accorded 
them various privileges ; he exempted them 
u 



290 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

from all taxes, and gave up to them all his rights 
over the territory of Olivula, save only the salt 
tax ; he ordained that the name of the new 
town should be Villefranche. Later King Robert, 
his son, under date of January 2nd, 1320, 
ratified and confirmed to his subjects at Ville- 
franche all the immunities and exemptions 
indicated above. Later on, on October 5th, 
1352, King Louis and Queen Joanna, his succes- 
sors, in addition to confirming these privileges, 
ordained that in future Villefranche and its 
territory could be neither enfeoffed or alienated. 
In the result the aforesaid territory of Ville- 
franche, with the remainder of the County of 
Nice, passed from the dominion of the House of 
Anjou to that of the House of Savoy, in virtue of 
the cession which was made of the city to Count 
Amadeus VII, called " The Red," in consequence 
of the faculty which had been granted by King 
Ladislas, and all its rights, privileges, immunities, 
and exemptions were confirmed by Count Ama- 
deus VII, and after him by his successors, namely 
Amadeus VIII (who, although elected to the 
Papacy, preserved his sovereign rights as Duke of 
Savoy), on November 4th, 1449 ; Duke Louis I, 
on June 22nd, 1465 ; Duke Philibert, on October 
29th, 1479 ; Duke Charles, on April 14th, 1483 ; 
Duchess Blanche, on January 21st, 1491 ; Duke 



FINAL AGREEMENT 291 

Philip, on June 20th, 1496 ; Duke Charles the 
Good, on July 19th, 1505 ; and Duke Emmanuel 
Philibert, on April 1st, 1559, and on September 
9th, 1571. Additional ratifications were also 
quoted. 

The case attracted as much interest in Turin 
as it did in Nice. In the end a Court of Arbitra- 
tion was appointed, and an agreement was arrived 
at on February 1st, 1666. The Convention then 
signed ran as follows : — 

" The Commune of Villefranche promises to 
pay five hundred and fifty ducatons to the Lord 
Doctor Michel Auda, the said Lord Doctor 
renounces in favour of the Commune all the 
rights which he possesses over the pasturage of 
Villefranche at Cap Ferrat, which belonged to him 
by virtue of the donation made in his favour 
by His Royal Highness, but he keeps his juris- 
diction over Olivula. The pasturage of Ville- 
franche belongs in solidum to the Commune of 
Villefranche, to the exclusion equally of the city 
of Nice, and if the latter should attempt to 
interfere in its lawful possession, the said Doctor 
Auda is to intervene, to see that the present 
Convention is duly executed." 

The incident of the pirate, before referred to, 
took place at Cap Saint Hospice, which branches 
out to the eastward of Cap Ferrat. This had 



292 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

been the great stronghold of the Moors, where 
was their Fraxinet or fort ; and after their 
expulsion almost became the home of the 
Knights Templar, for when these Knights had 
been driven out of the Island of Rhodes, by the 
Turks, their Grand Master, Villiers de 1' Isle- 
Adam, approached the Christian Sovereigns of 
Europe with a view to securing a new home for his 
Knights on the shores of the Mediterranean. 
Pope Clement VII begged the Duke of Savoy to 
give them the Cap Saint Hospice. This was 
granted, and the Grand Master, in a letter dated 
October 8th, 1527, announced the fact to Christen- 
dom. But a couple of years afterwards Charles 
V presented them with the Island of Malta, 
and, as they preferred that, the project of 
establishing the Order of Cap Saint Hospice — 
so nearly realized — fell through. 

The massive tower at the end of the cape 
seems to be the only remaining portion of the 
Castle built in 1577 by Emmanuel Philibert, on 
the ruins of the Fraxinet of the Saracens. When 
the building of this Castle was in progress the 
Duke, who was then living at Nice, was hardly 
ever absent, so great was his pleasure in its 
creation. He often came round by sea, taking 
no precautions for his personal safety. One 
morning, while he was on his way from Nice, 



THE DUCHESS AND THE CORSAIR 293 

nine pirate galleys appeared and gave chase, 
but the Duke and his party managed to gain the 
harbour of Villefranche in safety. The corsairs, 
who were under the leadership of a Genoese 
renegade called Occhiali, made their way to the 
Baie des Fosses, on the other side of the cape. 
The Duke sent his guard by land to try and 
capture them, but, owing to a false move on the 
part of the Royal troops, Duke Emmanuel 
Philibert was surrounded, and would almost 
certainly have been captured, had it not been 
for the devotion of two of the gentlemen of his 
escort, who were made prisoners. The price of 
their restoration to liberty as laid down by 
Occhiali was a ransom of two thousand ducats 
of gold, and that permission should be granted 
to him to kiss the hand of the Duchess Marguerite 
de Valois. The victor of Saint Quentin and of 
Gravelines was obliged to accept the condition, 
but he employed a stratagem, and induced 
Marie de Gondy, one of the Duchess's ladies-in- 
waiting, to interview the gallant pirate. The 
Duke duly presented her as his wife, and the 
affair would have passed off without suspicion 
had not the Duchess, who was indignant at the 
trick which was being played, lifted the tapestry 
and entered the room with apologies to the 
corsair, who kissed her hand with the greatest 



294 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

of gallantry, and kept his word by immediately 
releasing his prisoners. The story is a pretty one, 
but the kiss brought no luck to the Genoese, for 
the year afterwards he was caught and hanged. 

By the side of the sturdy old tower, which is 
all that remains of this Castle to-day — for the rest 
was blown up by the Duke of Berwick in 1705 — 
stands an enormous and utterly tasteless statue 
of the Madonna and Child in bronze, which was 
cast on the spot, and was intended to be placed 
on the top of the tower ; it weighs thirteen tons, 
and cost no less than four thousand pounds. 

The little fishing village of Saint Jean, with 
its tiny port, and a glorious view of the coast 
right away to Italy, is still unspoilt ; but the 
whole of the cape has now been bought up by 
private plutocrats, whose lordly pleasure houses 
rise in every direction. The pleasant olive 
groves and shady paths have become opulent 
gardens, into which the common herd are 
admitted once a season maybe, at a cost of 
ten francs per head, the profits to go to the 
sacred cause of charity. 

Beaulieu is, as its name implies, a very fair 
spot ; it seems to have been inhabited from the 
earliest times, and remains of the quaternary 
period were discovered at Cap Roux in 1872. 
In Roman days it was a pleasant little town 



BEAULIEU AND OLIVULA 295 

frequented by the patricians of Cimiez. This 
has been clearly proved by the discovery 
in 1862 and in 1898 of objects of personal 
adornment, and numerous funeral inscriptions. 
It was destroyed by the barbarians about the 
middle of the eighth century, and the few 
inhabitants who remained founded the town 
of Olivula on the neighbouring heights of Mont 
Saint Michel. It was not until the eleventh 
century, after the defeat of the Saracens, 
that a hamlet again sprang up on the site. 
The old church was a temple which stood 
by the side of the Roman road, and was con- 
secrated to the purposes of Christianity about 
the sixth century. In the Middle Ages it was 
dedicated to the Virgin, under the name of 
Santa Maria de Belloloco. Of the town of 
Olivula nothing whatever remains, with the 
exception of a bit of wall which formed part 
of the chapel of Saint Michael. 

Perched high above, in the clouds, the little 
village of Eze is so beaten and browned by the 
weather, that from below it is almost impossible 
to distinguish its buildings from the rock. 
Eze appears to have been founded by the 
Phoenicians, who established on this spot the 
cult of the goddess Isis, from whence the present 
name of Eze has come. It is referred to as Isia, 



296 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

and Antoninus calls it Avisium, or Visia, " ob- 
servatory over the sea." It was also called 
Oesus. It was fortified by the Romans, destroyed 
by the barbarians, then taken once more, and 
rebuilt by the Saracens, who established a strong 
port there. In the Middle Ages it belonged to 
many lords, according to the fortunes of war ; 
finally, in 1543, Barbarossa took it by storm, 
and kept some of his troops quartered there 
during the siege of Nice. That was the end of 
the Castle, for it was never repaired, and has 
been in ruins ever since. The church formerly 
contained two pictures by David. It is related 
that when the famous artist was on his way to 
Italy with two pupils and a friend, they were 
caught in a storm near Eze, but managed to get 
to the village, where they were hospitably 
entertained by the cure, in return for which 
they each promised to send him a picture. 
Shortly afterwards arrived from Rome paintings, 
a " Descent from the Cross," and a " Saint 
John," from the brush of David, and two others 
from his pupils. These existed in bad condition 
until somewhere about the year 1830, when only 
the head of Saint John remained ; and this was 
shortly afterwards cut out and stolen, or, 
according to Baring-Gould, sold to an English- 
man, who took it home with him. Mont Bastia, 



CONTES 297 

which is the mountain above Eze, derives its 
name from its having been a fortified place or 
" Bastion," which is almost synonymous with 
" Bastide," which means " Batisse Neuve," " new 
building," the name taken by the late Lord 
Salisbury for the villa which he built on the 
flank of the mountain above Beaulieu. High 
up may be seen a cross, recalling that Pope Pius 
VII stopped at this spot on February 13th, 1813, 
when he was returning to Rome after his cap- 
tivity at Fontainebleau. 

Along the bank of the Paillon are numerous 
little towns; Trinite-Victor, with its curious 
triangular church, is the first, and then comes 
the burgh of Drap, which gives the title of Count 
to the Bishops of Nice, which they have borne 
since the year 1238. Only one ruined tower 
remains of the Castle, almost completely de- 
molished in the fifteenth century, and which 
tradition asserts was established on the site of a 
Roman fortress. 

Contes was called by the Romans Cuntinus, 
and afterwards Castrum Cuntinum ; before their 
time it had already been the head-quarters of 
an independent tribe. In the Middle Ages it 
had its own lords, but passed to the House of 
Savoy in the fifteenth century. In 1700 it was 
recognized by patent as a county, and every 



298 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

inhabitant had the right to call himself Seigneur. 
During the wars of the French Revolution the 
people of Contes received the troops of General 
Brunet with acclamation ; and when the vote 
was taken in regard to annexation with France 
in 1860, they were unanimous in its favour. 
A few of the fortifications are still extant. Not 
far off are the ruins of Chateauneuf — the Deserted 
Village — which was abandoned by its inhabi- 
tants in the year 1644, on account of the cessation 
of the water supply, after an earthquake in that 
year. In the midst of the ruins remains, showing 
its Roman origin, are to be seen, including 
inscriptions and portions of altars. The country 
people declare the ruins to be haunted by 
-fairies. 

Luceram was another Roman post, " Lucus- 
eram," because it was built on an elevation 
covered with a thick grove. Its inhabitants 
were known as the most warlike in all the 
Maritime Alps, and they long fought the Romans ; 
it was the capital of the tribe of Lepontii. It 
is still surrounded by its feudal towers and walls, 
and the curious cat-holes cut in the lower part 
of many of the ancient doors are worthy of 
notice ; they may be found in most of these old 
hill-towns. A quaint inscription may be seen 
on a house in the Rue du Ghetto, " Christo 



LUCERAM AND ASPREMONT 299 

aperiatur, Diabolo claudatur " (" Let the door be 
open to Christ, and shut to the Devil "). The 
retable in the church, attributed to the first years 
of Miralheti, though it has suffered much from 
time and restoration, is yet a very interesting 
piece of work. Of its ten panels five are devoted 
to the history of Saint John the Baptist, and the 
figures are painted with much dignity and 
restraint. On the northern flank of Mont Chauve 
lies the old Oppidum of Aspremont, or Castrum 
Aspermontis of the Romans, so called from the 
wildness of this mountain spot. Above the 
village are indications of ruins of great antiquity, 
which seem to show that this was a town of the 
Vediantii, whose capital was Cimiez, in pre- 
Roman times ; the thickness of the walls, the 
shape of the stones, and the kind of masonry 
of the rubbish all point to this conclusion. A 
fragment of an inscription found by a shepherd, 
bearing the words " Vetus Castrum," shows that 
the Romans in their turn established a military 
post here. Gioffredo tells us that in his time a 
charter existed, dating from 1327, giving an 
inventory of the lands and tithe-rolls belonging 
to the parish church, of which the incumbent 
bore the title of Prior. In this same year, 1327, 
the plague burst out with great violence, and 
forced the inhabitants of Aspremont to take 



300 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

shelter on Mont Chauve to escape the contagion, 
but they were unable to get away from it. Traces 
of their encampment, formed of masses of rock 
heaped one on the other, are still in existence. 
When the plague had died out the wretched 
remnant of the inhabitants returned, and built 
a new village lower down the mountain, on the 
site where Aspremont now is. The plague again 
attacked the village in 1630, but it escaped the 
cholera visitations in 1835 and 1854. 

When the Saracens ravaged the Riviera, and 
destroyed many of the towns and villages on the 
coast, numbers of their inhabitants fled hither ; 
and it became a place of considerable importance, 
and was highly fortified. The Seigneurs of 
Aspremont frequently appear in the pages of 
history, one family succeeding another from 
divers causes, until the title and fiefs came into 
the possession of the Grimaldi-Lascaris family, 
who converted the old manor-house into a 
magnificent Castle for their residence. This 
family becoming extinct in the male line, the 
title of Comte d' Aspremont passed through the 
female side of the House to the eldest son of the 
Baron Caravadossi du Touet, who was authorized 
by the King of Sardinia to assume the old name. 
The Chateau was demolished in the revolutionary 
times of 1793, and its site turned into a public 



MONT CHAUVE 301 

square, so that no signs of feudalism should 
remain. 

Mont Chauve itself, one of the principal 
summits of this mountain chain, dominates 
the whole of the plain of Nice, set below the 
amphitheatre of the intervening semicircle of 
hills which protect it from the cold winds blowing 
down from the distant peaks lying deep in snow. 
The view from here is superb at early morning, 
the whole coast lying extended from the pro- 
montory of Saint Tropez beyond the ruddy chain 
of the Esterels in the west, to the slopes of the 
Italian mountains running down to the sea by 
distant Bordighera in the east ; while to the 
south the mountains of Corsica rise grandly 
out of the blue sea, as if twenty miles, rather than 
six times that number, separated them from the 
mainland. 

Mont Chauve is some two thousand seven 
hundred feet in height. The meaning of the name 
is probably not derived from its bare summit 
(" chauve " — " bald ") ; for in Nicois it is called 
Mon Cau, and before the year 1000 it was 
already known by this name, at which period 
it was entirely covered with forests of pines, firs, 
larches, holm-oaks, and beeches. In the year 
970 it is recorded in the archives of Nice that 
the four Consuls or chief magistrates of the 



302 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

town (one represented the nobles, another the 
merchants, the third the artisans, and the fourth 
the husbandmen) gave orders to begin to cut 
down the woods, principally for building ships 
to fight the Saracen pirates; and at the same time 
they rooted up the coarse " dog's grass " of the 
Saracens, which had found its way into Provence 
about the year 730. There are two other 
suggested derivations of the name, either of 
which seems possible. " Cau," derived from 
the Celtic word " Ckem," meaning mountain, or 
" calidus," the Latin word for " hot," " warm," 
since the mountain receives the sun's rays from 
its rising to its setting. 

Of late years, since mountain travel became 
easy by the use of motor-cars, it has been possible 
to explore that lovely Hinterland of the Riviera, 
which formerly was almost inaccessible in winter. 
Only twelve miles and a half as the crow flies, 
and some twenty-five on a good military road, 
lies the plateau of Peira Cava, at an altitude of 
over five thousand feet. The complete change 
of scenery, from the palm-clad shores of Nice 
to the Swiss landscape which is to be found at a 
couple of hours' distance, is one of the most 
surprising of all the surprises of the Riviera. 
After leaving Luceram the road winds up in 
giddy curves until it reaches the beautiful forest 




X. ALPINE SCENERY AT PEIRA-CAVA 



PEIRA CAVE & THE HINTERLAND 303 

of Turini, a thick growth of pines, fir trees, and 
aspens, most of them of venerable antiquity. 
Though the snow lies deep on the plateau, the 
sapphire sky is as pure, and the sunshine as 
brilliant in the day-time, as it is on the coast 
below, though at nights the cold is intense. 
Still higher towers the great peak of the Authion, 
to an altitude of over six thousand five hundred 
feet, and the fort which crowns this is one 
of the strongest in the country, as well as one 
of the highest in Europe. The chalets look 
absolutely Swiss, and the tinkle of the cow- 
bells, and an occasional glint of clusters of 
bright blue gentian, all go to complete the 
illusion. A few years ago an attempt was 
made to create winter sports here, but it did 
not meet with success, nor with the manifold 
other attractions of the Cote d'Azur are they 
needed. As a beauty spot of Nature, in com- 
plete contrast with her summer moods so near at 
hand, Peira Cava is well worth a visit in the 
winter or early spring. It is hardly surprising, 
when one knows this country, to find traces of 
the Roman occupation even at this remote spot. 



CHAPTER XV 

The country west of the Var — The old frontier town of Saint Laurent- 
du-Var — The Castle of Cagnes — The Bishop's reproof to his flock — 
Francis I at the Chateau of Villeneuve-Loubet — The old burgh of 
Saint Paul — The battle between the armies of Vitellius and Otho at 
La Brague — Biot repeopled by Genoese — Curious custom at Val- 
lauris — Antibes, its venerable antiquity — Roman buildings — The 
Terpon Stone — Frequent sieges — Honoured by Louis XVIII — 
Bonaparte under arrest — Madame Letitia's sojourn — Demolition of 
the ramparts — Vence — Roman tombs — Development of Christianity 
there — Its Bishops — The Reformation — Huguenot persecutions — 
Village of Saint Jeannet — Gourdon — The country folk. 

WEST of the Var are even more interesting 
towns and villages which have for cen- 
turies been closely bound up with the destinies 
of Nice than on the eastern bank. For long the 
Var formed the boundary between France and 
Italy, and the village of Saint Laurent was the 
frontier town, where custom-house formalities 
had to be gone through. A long wooden bridge — 
oft-times swept away — united it to the opposite 
bank, and when, for one reason or another, 
it was non-existent there was a public ferry 
service arranged for. Nowadays there is no 
trace of a bridge, the road and railway cross the 
river a mile nearer the sea, and Saint Laurent 
has become a little backwater into which visitors 

3°4 



THE CASTLE OF CAGNES 305 

never float, and where life never changes. Cagnes, 
perched on the top of its tall rock, is one of the 
most picturesque villages to be met with any- 
where, and the steepness of its streets must have 
been a very present defence in itself in times 
of trouble. Its old Castle — which belonged to 
the Grimaldis — is an enormous mass built on the 
solid rock, at the commencement of the four- 
teenth century, and is one of the most perfect 
specimens of mediaeval architecture in the neigh- 
bourhood. 

The inhabitants of Cagnes seem to have had 
a reputation for being of an easy-going character ; 
and at one time they caused considerable trouble 
in the mind of the good Bishop of Vence and 
Grasse (Monseigneur de Bernade), who in the 
year 1678 thought it his duty to fulminate against 
the young girls of Cagnes, who gave themselves 
up with too much ardour to the pleasures of 
the dance, " for their indelicate postures and 
embraces." The case seemed to the Bishop to 
be so serious that he reserved to himself alone 
the right of giving absolution to these penitents ; 
and — killing two birds with one stone — he also 
condemned to the torments of hell " the players 
of instruments through the strains of which 
ensue the aforesaid postures and embracings " ; 
finally, he also promised to the Devil " all the 



306 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

throats and breasts which should be uncovered in 
church, without a handkerchief or scarf to veil 
them." History, unfortunately, does not relate 
whether the worthy Bishop's measures proved 
efficacious in stamping out such undesirable 
levity of conduct, or whether Mephistopheles, as 
in other tales of similar import, continued to 
come by his own. 

Close to Cagnes, on the banks of the little 
River Loup, is the town and Castle of Villeneuve- 
Loubet, with the remains of an old Roman 
bridge. The Chateau, where Francis I was, 
with Pope and Emperor, lodged with his retinue 
during the negotiations for the Ten Years' Truce, 
has a curious five-sided tower, which dominates 
the country-side. 

Inland from here is the ancient burgh of Saint 
Paul du Var, one of the most curious of the 
many little fortified hill-towns in the neighbour- 
hood. Tradition says that it was inhabited 
even before the arrival of the Romans, by the 
Ligurian tribe of the Deciates, whose head- 
quarters were at Antibes ; but its authentic 
history goes no further back than the thirteenth 
century. This little town, now sunk to a dilapi- 
dated village, which gives crazy shelter to some 
seven or eight hundred souls, was at one time 
the winter rendezvous of the nobility of Provence, 



OLD BURGH OF SAINT PAUL 307 

many of whom have left their armorial bearings 
sculptured on the houses they once occupied. 
Saint Paul always had a Royal Governor. 
" Nothing can be more rural, however," says a 
modern writer, " than its present aspect ; its 
solitary cannon, a long, narrow, sixteenth century 
piece, of the kind to be met with in the designs of 
Renaissance monuments, lies rusting above the 
gate ; but through that gate comes a clattering 
company of gallants no longer, with His Ex- 
cellency the Governor, all ermine and steel, 
at their head." 

In the plain of La Rrague it is believed that 
the great battle between the forces of Vitellius 
and Otho, the rival aspirants for the throne of 
Nero, took place in a.d. 69. By the side of the 
stream are some ruins still existing, which are 
said to be the remains of a monument erected to 
mark the place of the battle. 

Biot is another little walled town with a 
history, formerly named Castrum de Busettro. 
A commandery of the Knights Templars and 
of the Knights of Malta, it was devastated in 
the Middle Ages by the Saracens, and depopu- 
lated by the plague. The Bishop of Grasse, in 
1740, re-peopled it with a colony of sixteen families 
whom he brought from Genoa, and the patois 
spoken there to-day shows clear signs of this origin. 



308 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Vallauris was the Vallis Aurea of the Romans. 
The honesty of its people was as proverbial as 
that of the inhabitants of Mentone. In the 
early part of the nineteenth century it was still 
customary to set plates full of fruit by the road- 
side. The wayfarer who felt inclined to eat a 
fig or an apple took one, and left a sou in pay- 
ment. Neither sous, plate, nor fruit were ever 
stolen. 

Some historians have been so bold as to assign 
the date of 2000 B.C. to the foundation of Antibes, 
but without going so far as that, it has a venerable 
history. It was originally the chief town of the 
Ligurian tribe of Deciates, under the name of 
Deciatum ; and it received its fresh name of 
Antipolis — the " city opposite " to Nice — much 
later — in Provencal Antiboul — and this has 
naturally become Antibes. The Romans fortified 
it strongly, erected temples and theatres, and 
brought a water supply from the mountains in a 
massive aqueduct, of which traces remain even 
now. There are also to be seen the remains 
of a Temple of Venus, close to the chapel of 
Saint Roch, and the existing church may be built 
on the site of the Temple of Diana of the Ephe- 
sians ; but the square twin towers, built one on 
either side of it, though constructed of Roman 
stones, are not of Roman origin. The inscrip- 



THE TERPON STONE 309 

tions to be noticed on them are, in some cases, set 
upside down. But the monument of antiquity 
for which Antibes is specially renowned is what 
is known as the Terpon Stone, which bears an 
inscription in archaic characters, which prove 
the presence of Greeks in this city several 
centuries before the Christian Era. It was dis- 
covered by Monsieur Mougins of Roquefort, and 
is well described in the pages of Lentheric. 
" It is a flint," he tells us, "a pebble rolled and 
polished by the action of water, just such as can 
be found in the bed of some Alpine torrent, or on 
the seashore, and differs only in being unusually 
large, measuring some twenty-two and a half 
inches in length, by about eight inches and a 
quarter in width. The stone is not a common flint, 
but a fragment of diorite of a very beautiful 
dark green colour, almost black, of an elliptical 
shape like an egg, rather elongated and flattened, 
so as to have a somewhat prismatic form ; 
its three faces, which run longitudinally, being 
slightly convex, and on the widest and flattest 
of these faces is an inscription written length- 
wise on the stone. This consists of two verses 
written in five lines, the literal translation of 
which is, ' I am Terpon, servant of the august 
goddess Aphrodite ; may Cypris recompense with 
her favours those who have placed me here.'" 



310 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

From the moment of its discovery this stone 
attracted the attention of the learned, and it 
has been examined by the most competent 
authorities, many of whom have written trea- 
tises on it. Lentheric goes on to remark that 
it was seen at once that the general style 
of the inscription bore the most striking re- 
semblance to the archaic Ionian inscriptions of 
the Branchidse, who were specially consecrated 
to the service of the Didymaean Apollo. The 
character in which it is written is made up of 
some letters from the ancient Ionian alphabet, 
intermixed with others in common use among the 
Greeks about the end of the fifth century before 
our era. Here, then, we have a certain proof 
of the ancient settlement of a Greek colony at 
Antipolis. 

The idea that first occurred to archaeologists 
was, that this inscribed stone implied the 
existence of a sacred monument of a figurative 
character — a statue, a bust, or some sort of 
representation of a person of the name of Terpon, 
a priest of Venus Aphrodite, or at any rate 
attached in some special way to the worship of 
that goddess. But apart from the fact that the 
Greeks seldom cemented any sort of monument 
to a wall, this stone shows no trace of having been 
so treated. The stone itself is perfectly smooth, 



THE TERPON STONE 311 

and bears no appearance of ever having been let 
into masonry of any sort. The stone of Antibes, 
then, was, as we cannot but admit, a monument 
of itself, independent and complete ; and we 
must look upon it as one of those sacred stones 
to which ancient paganism attributed super- 
natural virtues, in which the people fancied that 
they recognized the image of the divinity, 
sometimes even the divinity himself. 

This superstition was of Eastern origin. Sacred 
stones known by the name of " betuli " were 
worshipped in Chaldaea, in Phoenicia, in Syria, 
and Asia Minor ; they were usually unhewn 
stones which the caprice of Nature or the action 
of the elements had shaped into a form sometimes 
regular, sometimes grotesque. Among them all 
black stones were the object of most special 
adoration, and recent studies of the primitive 
religions of the East have informed us that one 
of the most celebrated was the black stone 
representing the great Phrygian goddess, which 
is spoken of by Arnobius. 

Pausanias speaks of this primitive fetishism as 
forming part of the old form of Greek worship ; 
and many of the " betuli " known at the present 
day represent deities of the cycle of the primi- 
tive Aphrodite, a goddess who was represented 
in her ancient sanctuaries in the Island of Cyprus, 



312 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

and particularly in the Temple of Golgos, under 
the form of a conical stone, very similar to the 
sacred stone of Antibes. This archaic form of the 
worship of Aphrodite seems even to have passed, 
without change, all through the period of the 
highest Greek culture, and to have survived all 
alterations of the ancient religious ritual. Pau- 
sanias even tells us that nearly two centuries after 
Christ, an unhewn stone personifying the god 
Eros might still be seen at Thespiae, where, 
placed side by side with the masterpieces of 
Praxiteles and Lysippus, it still received the 
homage and prayer of its faithful worshippers. 

An objection has been raised that, notwith- 
standing the archaic character of the inscription, 
it yet does not appear to be older than the fifth 
century before Christ, at which period the Greeks 
had long given up the worship of unknown 
stones. On this Monsieur Heuzey, in " La 
Pierre sacree dAntipolis," writes : " The per- 
sistent attachment to the most primitive forms 
of worship, in spite of all the advances of art, 
seems to be an invariable law in the history of 
all religions. It was not until after the time of 
Pericles that the statue of the God of Love by 
Praxiteles and by Lysippus were placed side by 
side with the rude stone to which sacrifices were 
offered in the Temple of Thespiae. These works 



FREQUENT SIEGES 313 

of art were but offerings, ornaments of the sanc- 
tuary, which lessened in no respect the religious 
prestige of the shapeless fetish which had been 
consecrated by long tradition. It is, then, far 
from impossible that the Greek fishermen and 
sailors of Antipolis should have thought it a pious 
work, even at the most brilliant period of Hellenic 
culture, to preserve with respect, and consecrate 
by an inscription, a big stone rolled and polished 
by the waves which washed their shores. This 
long fidelity to primitive usages is all the more 
explicable among a people of emigrants, separated 
from the centre of their race, and who found 
themselves brought into contact here, not only 
with the Western barbarians, but also with the 
Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who had been 
long addicted to similar superstitions." 

The city was a very important one, right up 
to mediaeval times, when it was destroyed and 
burnt by the Saracens. It came into the posses- 
sion of the Grimaldi family in 1384, but they 
disposed of it to Henri IV in 1606. The massive 
and picturesque fortifications of the town — 
which were only demolished at the end of the 
nineteenth century — were erected under Louis 
XV, from the designs of Vauban. Thanks to 
their strength, Antibes was able to resist many 
assaults, especially in 1746, when it was besieged 



314 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

for two months by the Austrian Army on land, 
and by the British fleet at sea. Again, in 1815, 
when Napoleon landed at Golf Juan, hard by, 
for the Hundred Days, it resisted the entry of 
Capitaine Lamouret, who had been sent by the 
Emperor to take possession of it. Later in the 
same year Antibes repulsed another attack, this 
time by the combined Sardinian and Austrian 
Armies. To celebrate this feat of arms, and to 
reward the valour of the citizens of Antibes, 
King Louis XVIII, on his accession, assigned to 
it the title of " Good Town." According to Miss 
Dempster, Antibes had just two periods of 
importance as a fortress. The first was during 
the wars of the League, after which Henri IV 
commenced those fortifications which, until their 
comparatively recent demolition, were still called 
" of Rosny," and " of the Dauphin," and that 
Fort Carre which Vauban was to develop in a 
later reign. Its second epoch was during the 
early years of the Revolution. Constant military 
movements, and the campaign on the frontiers 
of Piedmont, then filled it with troops ; it was 
within reach of Toulon and also of Genoa. Bona- 
parte, who was under arrest in the fort, just after 
the events of the 9th of Thermidor, knew the 
place well, and once settled Madame Letitia 
near it in a small house. There were persons still 



BONAPARTE UNDER ARREST 315 

alive towards the close of the fourth decade of 
the nineteenth century who remembered seeing 
her come and go between her house and a little 
stream where the linen was washed, at the period 
when Napoleon's friendships with Ricord and 
Augustin Robespierre were more interesting 
than really useful to her ambitious son. 

The old fort happily still stands keeping guard 
over the harbour as it has done for centuries, 
baked by the sun to a brilliant sequence of red 
and orange hues, but the disappearance of the 
beautiful old ramparts has destroyed all the 
picturesqueness of the town, which to-day is an 
open, windy, ugly place in the awkward stage of 
development so frequently to be met with in 
British seaside resorts. 

Vence, in the time of the Romans, was the next 
important city in the chain which led from 
Cimiez to the west. The town is a very interest- 
ing one, and has had a chequered and varied 
history. Macmillan's account of its origin is 
worth reproducing. " Who first marked out this 
storied spot for habitation," he says, " we cannot 
tell. We know from Ptolemy that it was at a 
very early period the capital of a primitive 
Ligurian tribe named the Nerusii. They had a 
series of forts, which are still standing, and 
called by the people ' castellaras,' built in a very 



316 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

massive manner of huge blocks of stone without 
cement, crowning the tops of the high rocks and 
hills in the neighbourhood, and to these they 
fled for refuge when hard pressed by the Roman 
Legions. But by and by the town was conquered 
by the Romans, and under the name of Ventis 
Horreum Csesaris, or Civitas Venticulum, speedily 
attained to great importance as a central com- 
missariat depot for victualling the army. It was 
one of the eight principal cities of the province 
of the Maritime Alps, and possessed a Forum, 
an aqueduct carrying to it the delicious water 
of the Lubiana (now known as the Loup), two 
temples dedicated to Mars and to Cybele, and 
many splendid palaces, and, in consequence, 
included among its inhabitants many persons 
of high rank, besides a body of priests and 
magistrates. At the beginning of the Christian 
Era it was connected by a splendid road, a branch 
of the old Via Julia Augusta, with Cimiez, Vado, 
and the Southern Italian routes, along which an 
extensive traffic was carried. Fragments of this 
road have been found in different places between 
Vence and Cimiez, consisting of large slabs of 
pavement, with layers of masonry on either side, 
and ruined tombs, which, according to the custom 
of the Romans, lined both sides of the public ways, 
and called the attention of the passer-by with 



VENCE 317 

their ' Siste, viator.' Vence hass till about it a 
sense of the presence of eternal Rome, whose sons 
found in this place a second Italy ; for the chancel 
of the parish church, formerly the Cathedral of 
Notre Dame, in the centre of the town, was 
originally a Roman temple, of which two columns 
survive ; and numerous Roman inscriptions on 
stones, built into the wall of the courtyard near 
the Hotel de Ville, remind the visitor of the 
ancient Ventium. Indeed, the ghost of the dead 
Empire seems to be more real in this place than 
the flesh and blood of the present regime" 

Vence, more than any of the other Riviera 
towns, is connected with the development of 
Christianity in the country. The precise date of 
its evangelization has never been fixed, but, 
according to tradition, Saint Trophimus, having 
discovered that the citizens of Vence were " too 
much given to idolatry," if he did not himself 
turn his attention towards them, at all events 
enjoys the reputation of having first placed an 
evangelist here, between the years a.d. 161 
and 180. Miss Dempster admirably records the 
progress of Christianity in Vence. She tells us 
that when the martyrdom of Saint Bassus, first 
Bishop of Nice, took place in a.d. 253, the 
Christian religion had, by that time, taken a 
firm root in the country ; and during the episco- 



318 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

pate of Audimus of Vence there was already a 
sacred edifice in the town, under every column 
of which the builders had buried the image of 
some false and fallen god. What was so well 
begun went on equally well, the ecclesiastical 
annals of Vence remaining both rich and consecu- 
tive ; and this mainly because its sheltered 
position preserved it from many of the blows 
aimed at Nice and Antibes by the barbarians 
who overran the country. 

" Saint Veran," continues Miss Dempster, 
" was the greatest of all the early Prelates of 
the See. He was the son of one of the pupils of 
Honoratus, and his own life was like that of 
Chaucer's ideal parson : — 

" ' By many followed, and admired by all : 

Such was the Saint, who strove with every grace, 
Reflecting, Moses-like, his Master's face.' 

In him courage and learning met, and they 
glorified life under the harsh reign of Genseric. 
At this early stage of the world's experience, to 
found a religious house for study, prayer, and 
culture was to perform the highest act of 
Christian forethought and usefulness. 

"It is not surprising, therefore, to find Saint 
Veran building a convent near the present bridge 
at the mouth of the Loup. The mills of La 
Dorade, which now occupy its site, are chiefly 



ITS BISHOPS 319 

built over its foundations, and it is not possible 
to ascertain what were the original proportions of 
the religious house whose bells, sounding to 
matins and to evensong, first woke the echoes 
of this wooded shore. The career of its monks 
had to be at once that of men of the altar and of 
men of the plough, but the secular clergy were 
soon to give to Vence another great example of 
Christian virtue, wisdom, and grace. Saint 
Lambert's Christian name is still venerated in 
Vence. He lived there in such poverty, and with 
such evangelical simplicity, that his goodness 
became a proverb, and, till the Revolution, 
miracles were said to be wrought by his bones. 
His era was that of the introduction of the 
Templars into Provence, soon after their founda- 
tion in 1118. It was the age in which the Church 
not only levied the dime grosse and the dime 
menne, the droits de paree, the droits de premice, 
and the droits d'autel, but when it possessed also 
the monopoly of ideas. It could give its visa to 
one page, and fix its brand on another ; but it was 
fortunately represented here by a Bishop like 
Saint Lambert, ready to tend the leper, to 
cultivate the glebe, and to keep in his diocese, 
with tender human care, the great book of human 
life for peasants whose lot united the extremity 
of hard usage to the extremity of hard work." 



320 THE ROMANCE OF NTCE 

When the signs of the times showed the 
approach of the Reformation in the Church, 
Vence once more came to the front, and took 
part in the making of history. The same 
chronicler before quoted continues in the follow- 
ing strain. She tells us that the episcopates of 
Simian and of Grimaldi, the two Bishops who 
preceded the reformed movement in Vence, were 
by no means rife in local scandals, but the times 
were evil, and the great offices all in commende. 
Christianity had gone through a series of sad and 
humiliating developments, and along with the 
sale of indulgences there was a noticeable lack 
of personal holiness in the Chapters. Reforms 
were called for, yet the Reformation in the 
Alpes Maritimes had rather a political than a 
theological importance, which, after the con- 
spiracy of Amboise in 1560, it assumed, to say 
the truth, all over France. In this way society 
was effectually stirred by it, and the question 
of moral and ecclesiastical reform was pressed 
on the notice of some men who might otherwise 
have missed its importance. The culture of the 
Renaissance, in which France participated fully, 
had already been tried, but it had been essen- 
tially wanting in the higher tones of morality. 
It had too little of that spiritual earnestness by 
which some men's lives are lifted beyond sensuous 



HUGUENOT PERSECUTIONS 321 

things, nor had political energy gained much from 
its luxurious charms. Only the intellectual 
light it had brought prepared men for freedom of 
enquiry, and then the study of Scripture acted 
as a moral stimulant to Huguenot scholars, 
theologians, statesmen, and captains. The wars 
called " of religion," which trained many a good 
soldier, agitated France from 1562 to 1598. 

Vence first received orders about her Huguenot 
congregations in 1560. Louis de Beuil de Grim- 
aldi was then in possession of the See, and the 
Castle of Villeneuve-Loubet belonged to a Las- 
caris, Count of Tenda. As the despot there was 
uncle to the Bishop, and as the Chapter of Vence 
consisted of a Du Port and a De Hondis, cadets 
of the noblest families of Saint Paul-du-Var, 
it was evident that the issue of any conflict with 
the Calvinists would turn here on local interests. 
The Bishop took up the question warmly, and 
when summoned to attend the Council of Trent, 
he excused himself on the ground of the troubles 
which " the new religion " daily evoked in 
Provence. Three hundred men were raised to 
deal with them, but the temper of the Vencois 
rose also, and in 1562 " armed bands of vaga- 
bonds and seditious men " met in many places. 
Rene de Cypieres collected forty horsemen in 
Nice to defend his co-religionists, Saint Jeannet 



322 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

declared for the reformed faith, and the Governor 
of Vence, who sided with the Bishop Grimaldi, 
could only forbid " any citizen to lodge or 
conceal a Huguenot in any house, garden, or 
vineyard." Domiciliary visits took place, and 
thirty names were posted " as absentees for the 
sake of the new tenets." 

The peace of 1562 actually secured to the 
Huguenots the right of holding assemblies out- 
side the city walls, and it is to this regulation 
that Vence owes her Rue des Huguenots, which 
may be seen to this day. But 1567 was another 
very troublous year, and troops were posted in 
every direction, from Sisteron, on the Durance, 
to the forts of the Var — even in the little eyrie 
of Gourdon on the Loup — with orders to watch 
the movements of the reformed party. 

Nash tells us that the Dukes of Savoy con- 
tinually issued severe edicts against the so-called 
heresies of the times, and Nice was not exempt 
from their application, nor were any of their 
territories in this part of the country. Their 
cruel treatment of the Vaudois attracted the 
attention of foreign nations. Their persecutions 
even inspired the indignant muse of Milton, 
who wrote of them, " Avenge, O Lord, Thy 
slaughtered saints, whose bones lie scattered on 
the Alpine mountains cold " ; and Cromwell 



VILLAGE OF SAINT JEANNET 323 

was so moved by the sufferings of these people 
that he threatened to send his Ironsides into 
Piedmont in order to secure their better treat- 
ment. It is to the credit of the Counts of Tenda 
that their territory, then independent, though 
afterwards included in the County of Nice, was 
allowed to be a refuge to fugitive Vaudois. 
Pious inscriptions on the houses remain to this 
day as memorials of their sojourn there. One 
inscription touchingly and appropriately — seeing 
how the poor Vaudois were, in those days, 
hunted from place to place — says, " Here have 
we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." 

There is nothing in the village of Saint Jeannet 
to repay a visit, beyond its exquisite situation 
at the foot of the great bluff known as the Baou, 
which rises up like a small Gibraltar. Its name 
comes from the Knights of Saint John of Jerusa- 
lem, who once had a commanderv here. For 
centuries it has been famous for its grapes, and it 
is curious to see the bunches all swathed in little 
paper bags, overhanging the hedges on either 
side of the road. 

Even higher still is perched the tiny village of 
Gourdon, a veritable eagle's nest on the mountain 
top, overlooking the entrance to the gorges of 
the Loup. Its old Castle is fast crumbling to 
decay and oblivion ; but it is worth the climb, 



324 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

if only for the marvellous view of the whole 
sunlit coast from east to west, which lies spread 
out below ; while the barren mountains to the 
north seem to open a glimpse of an earlier and 
more primeval world- 
Other little cities there are, both on the western 
and the eastern banks of the Var, which have 
lived in the past, though their day has long been 
done. An anonymous writer has well caught their 
description, and caught something of their atmo- 
sphere, when he says that " hill-cities share with 
islands the fascination that only aloofness can 
give — imparting a sense of absolute ownership ; 
and at sight of the sleep-ridden, huddled towns 
that crest the hills along the Maritime Alps, the 
chord of memory is set vibrating, awakening 
the old feeling of ' make-believe ' with an added 
touch of amaze at seeing dreams in concrete 
form. They are towns of wide-flung shutters and 
mellow walls, of courtyards that are wells of blue 
shadow, and towers that seem burnished as they 
pierce the sunlight ; here a town perched eagle- 
wise on a crag, with a small forest of irregular 
turrets ; there one which fits over the rounded 
mountain-top like a cap, the arched outline of 
its roofs following faithfully the curve of the 
ground, with a fruit-like roundness of contour. 
And everywhere, away from the town walls, lie 



THE COUNTRY FOLK 325 

the olive slopes — a great sea charmed, at the 
moment of most tumultuous movement, into still- 
ness, the waves of it interfolding in vast billows 
that never break — only here and there the breeze 
tosses the light under-sides of leaves into a sem- 
blance of spray. Each of these is a fairy city, 
fallen on bad days, it is true, but holding its 
breath, so to speak, in a husk of dirt and ashes, 
till it can unveil itself to a world grown simple- 
minded once more. 

" Even now the boys who whistle their careless 
way round corners and down the slopes are of 
another age — brown-necked and bold-eyed, with 
the definitely modelled cheek-bones, small chins, 
and pointed teeth that suggest the faun. Here 
in the glimmer of the dawning, when the leaves 
of the olive trees are only just beginning to refract 
the light, and the valleys are pools of deep 
shadow capped by the brightening hills, the 
pipes of a satyr may be heard, shrilling through 
the quiet air. If he has hidden his cloven hoofs 
in heavy shoes, and tucked his goat-like tail 
neatly away beneath a blue blouse — if, in short, 
he seems only some old shepherd driving his 
patient flock — that is only part of the great 
conspiracy, believe it, and now we have come to 
the root of the matter. For these valleys, so 
mysterious at dawn and dusk, and in the day- 



326 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

time so toy-like with the striped effect of the 
olive terraces and the tiny red-roofed huts ; 
these apparently candid yet reticent little town- 
ships above them ; these mountains that at sun- 
setting are stained a burning copper, filmed with 
amethyst ; they are one and all under a spell, 
caught in a net of enchantment as real, though 
not as visible, as the nearly purple shadow each 
olive tree flings over the ground beside it." 



CHAPTER XVI 

The Nice carnival — Its derivation and origin — Its history and 
its development — Its present splendour. 

NO account of Nice and its story would be 
complete without a description of the 
famous carnival, with which its very name is bound 
up in the minds of most people, whether they have 
gone through its vagaries and its vicissitudes 
or not. It is strange how different a view may be 
taken of places under changed conditions. As was 
shown in the previous chapter, Nice at the end 
of the eighteenth century was discovered by 
English doctors as a health resort, as a suitable 
winter climate for consumptive patients, and all 
the discomfort of prolonged travel in shaky 
post-chaises over impossible roads, and even in 
river barges and sailing vessels, was freely pre- 
scribed that these invalids might enjoy the blue 
skies and sunshine of the Riviera at a time when 
England was wrapped in fog and fast bound 
under snow. Even so comparatively recent a 
writer as Emile Negrin, in his " Promenades de 
Nice," says, " the best Doctor is old Phoebus. 
You cannot talk to him, for he lives at some 

327 



328 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

distance from our town, about thirty millions of 
leagues away, but you can see him in winter- 
time every day. He alone cures, consoles, puts 
life into you ; he is the Doctor of the Faculty of 
Heaven ; for his diploma he has a round disc of 
gold, bordered with diamonds, from which he 
pours out his rays of golden lightning." But, to- 
day, who ever thinks of connecting Nice with the 
idea of doctors ? Now that travel has been made 
so easy and so luxurious, consumptive patients 
hie them to mountain-tops, and, truth to say, 
would neither be welcomed or even permitted on 
the Riviera. The day has long gone by when the 
name of Mentone was supposed to conjure up a 
vision of a dismal procession of invalids in Bath 
chairs, saluting Doctor Phoebus with volleys of 
hollow coughs. 

No, Nice and the other Riviera towns have 
become pleasure cities, and as such they attract 
countless visitors from every quarter of the 
known globe, from the time when the leaves 
begin to fall from the trees in autumn till the 
green month of May, when it is safe once more to 
affront the uncertain weather of less favoured 
climes. 

Carnival, and all that appertains to it, is the 
outward and visible sign of this change in the 
world's outlook towards the winter cities ; and 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 329 

here it is to be seen not only presented with more 
luxury and magnificence than anywhere else, 
but with a splendour and profusion unknown 
even to the famous mediaeval carnivals of Rome 
and Venice. 

Carnival, like one of those monuments of 
Egypt, " oldest of all old things," goes far back 
into the mists of history, and further. However 
the world may change, and no matter how 
fundamental may be the development which 
civilization and science may bring, yet certain 
ideas — or rather certain expressions of them — 
will persist so long as the round world revolves. 
This is especially noticeable in customs wherein 
a religious origin may be traced. 

The modern carnival seems, to students who 
are wise in folk-lore, to be a survival of those 
obscure and hidden ceremonies of the early 
world which perhaps culminated in the mysteries 
of the goddess Isis, on the banks of the Nile, 
and yet exist, or have existed, under totally 
different conditions in every country of the habit- 
able globe, touching perhaps their lowest scale 
among the Blackfellow Aborigines of Australia. 

The carnival of to-day is the direct successor 
of the Roman Saturnalia, for it is the kingdom 
of topsy-turvydom ; in the latter the slaves 
became the lords during the duration of the 



330 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

celebrations ; as in the former, something similar 
obtains, for a peasant is as good as a prince 
under shelter of mask and domino. But one 
change has occurred which was obligatory and 
inevitable ; the master of the revels, who 
represented Saturn in the Roman orgies, actually 
suffered death in his assumed character at their 
conclusion, whereas to-day it is but a paste- 
board king whose ashes are burnt. 

This substitution of the carnival for the 
Saturnalia is easily understood when we re- 
member that in the history of the world it has 
invariably occurred that as religions have waxed 
and waned, each new one has found it a matter 
of policy to adapt many features of the one 
which it was endeavouring to overcome to the 
needs and daily uses of its own votaries. The 
Christian Church wisely realized that the primitive 
pagan customs could not lightly be done away 
with among the common people, who clung to 
their old beliefs and loved their old gods, and 
so it transformed them in their symbolism, 
and continued the ancient forms and ceremonies 
in their substance. As the gods of Rome were 
turned into the Madonna and the Saints and 
Martyrs, so did the Saturnalia, with all its fun 
and merriment (and probably with but little 
restriction of its license), become the carnival. 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 331 

In parts of Sicily to this day many of the festivals 
of patron Saints are kept with ceremonies so 
pagan as to be almost unintelligible, and an 
old statue of Venus may still be seen there, to 
which the country folk address their unsophisti- 
cated petitions under the invocation of Santa 
Venera ! 

To digress for a moment on this subject of the 
adaptation of one religion to another, a simi- 
lar instance may well be noticed in the first 
attempted evangelization of the Japanese Em- 
pire, centuries ago. When the Jesuit Fathers 
were authorized at that time to minister to the 
people, it was under the belief that the religion 
which they taught was but a symbolized and 
purified form of Buddhism, to which their 
ornate ritual and impressive ceremonial lent 
the fullest of colour. As a result, tens of thou- 
sands of converts were made by the missions, 
and when ultimately a new order arose, and 
they were totally exterminated, there was practi- 
cally an end of Christianity in Japan ; for in 
modern times, since missionaries are allowed to 
proselytize without let or hindrance, they make 
little or no headway, from the fact that instead 
of trying to assimilate the old beliefs of the 
people to the new teaching, the exponents of 
the latter condemn them root and branch. 



332 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Another case of this assimilation of the old 
and new may be recalled in the bonfires which 
burn red on many a hill-top on Midsummer night 
in Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, and elsewhere. 
Saint John's Fires, they are sometimes called — 
for the burlesque rites which in certain parts 
accompany their kindling are but the mutilated 
remnants of the ceremony of the lighting of 
the Beltane fire in honour of the Phoenician 
Sun God Baal, on the day when the sun remained 
longest over the horizon. 

But to return to the carnival. Its derivation — 
or rather the derivation of its meaning most 
usually accepted — is " Carne Vale," the " fare- 
well to meat," before the long fasts of the 
Lenten season brought in the salutary mortifica- 
tion of the flesh which the Church prescribed 
at this season for her children. 

In the Middle Ages the carnivals of Rome and 
of Venice reached a high pitch of magnificence, 
and licence and popular merriment were freely 
permitted and indulged in by all classes in the 
days immediately preceding Ash Wednesday. 
But the carnival of Venice died with the fall of 
the republic, and the carnival of Rome dis- 
appeared from the Eternal City — to all intents 
and purposes — with the fall of the temporal 
power of the Popes. 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 333 

Then it was that the Nice carnival sprang 
into being in its new and gorgeous form, although 
traces of its existence appear here and there in 
the pages of its chroniclers at periods con- 
siderably anterior to this. It is recorded that 
in the year 1699, in the month of February, on a 
Sunday during carnival, the Governor of Nice — 
who was at that time the Marquis di Caraglio — 
sent grenadiers to the houses of the wives of the 
merchants, because these latter, having been 
invited, had not wished to come and dance in his 
palace. Unfortunately we are not told how his 
unwilling guests comported themselves ; it is 
to be hoped that they insisted on the privileges 
of the season, and led the unpopular Governor 
all the dance he could desire. 

Our pedantic physician, Doctor Davis, writes 
in superior fashion of the carnival of 1807. 
"It is," he informs us, " of all festivals the 
most celebrated and gay, and is here, as in all 
Roman Catholic countries, observed very scrupu- 
lously. Scenes of festive mirth are very general 
among the better classes of society, and prove 
a source of pleasure and entertainment to the 
stranger. The amusements of the lower classes 
are ridiculous enough, though they can scarcely 
surpass the motley assemblage of every rank 
and every description at a masquerade. It is an 



334 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

interesting scene to witness the gaiety of the 
peasants and their families at wakes " (it is to 
be hoped and believed that this word is not used 
in its Irish significance !) " which are held in 
certain villages at several periods during the 
year. The diversions of all, young and old, 
consist for the most part in dancing, singing, 
and in music. Buffoons perform to the gaping 
spectators, and entertain them highly by their 
burlesque gestures." 

We may agree with the worthy Doctor that 
much in the carnival is ridiculous enough, nay, 
even a good deal which is both sordid and stupid, 
but there is much, too, which enshrines the 
immemorial light-heartedness of the Latin races, 
and which for a few brief days brings to the 
surface that true, honest, and pleasant equality 
so innate in these Southern peoples, and which 
is yet often so woefully misrepresented under a 
political guise. A Nice carnival, more than any 
function in the world, proves that we are all 
men and women (even if we behave sometimes 
as children), and that Jack can be as good as his 
master for a brief space of harmless fun and 
merriment, without in any way trenching on 
the ordered hierarchy, by which, for the sake of 
good government, each man must stand on his 
own step. 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 335 

We hear of carnival again in the year 1821, 
when the Sardinian Court was in residence at 
Nice, and an attempt was made to celebrate it 
with festivities of unusual splendour, in which 
the Sovereign and his suite took part. After this 
it lived a precarious existence until the year 
1857, when it was again attempted to organize 
it on a much grander scale, in honour of the 
presence in the town of the then Empress of 
Russia. But this was only a flash in the pan, 
and it degenerated year by year, until it be- 
came mere horse-play by the rabble of the old 
town. 

It was in the year 1873 that the first Committee 
of Fetes was formed by a few prominent resi- 
dents, who little thought at the time that they 
were laying the foundation-stone of what in 
future years was destined to become one of the 
most solid props of the prosperity, not only of 
the town of Nice, but of the whole Riviera ; 
for to-day these fetes are celebrated in all the 
chief towns along the coast, and have attained 
to a pitch of lavish splendour unequalled else- 
where in the world. It is a curious trait in 
human nature, this innate reverence — be it the 
genuine feeling or only mere snobbishness — 
which is universally felt for place and power 
personified in crowns and sceptres. As our 



336 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

English Radical so dearly loves a lord that he 
will even go cheerfully to the length of becoming 
one himself on the slightest provocation, so does 
the Frenchman — sturdy Republican and un- 
flinching upholder of the rights of man though 
he be — love to bow down to the representa- 
tion of such royalty embodied in the carnival 
monarch. Absolutism may be as dead as a door- 
nail, but King Carnival still reigns supreme, 
and woe betide the ignorant blasphemer who 
would dare to utter a word against his ephemeral 
sovereignty. More powerful upon his throne, 
" broad-based upon the People's will," than 
Tsar, Autocrat, Pope, or President, he is absolute 
monarch during his brief reign, with none to 
question his decrees ; and when he is gathered 
to his fathers, his obsequies are more splendid 
than are those accorded to any crowned head 
in the universe. When his ashes are borne to the 
four winds of heaven, amid blazing flights of 
rockets, on the night of Shrove Tuesday, and 
the cry goes up from the throats of a countless 
cosmopolitan multitude, " Le Roi est mort," yet 
the answering shout is just as hearty, " Vive le 
Roi I " 

But, after all, there is a good deal of genuine 
interest in the subject, for the history of the 
kings of carnival under their modern aspect as 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 337 

Sovereigns of Nice is not just a tale of fetes and 
fireworks, romps and roses, laughter and laissez 
alter, it is an amusing pageant of the cries and 
catchwords of the moment, which often recall 
events which are historical in the true sense 
of the word, and personalities who have played 
their little part on the world's stage, and loomed 
large for a brief moment, only to pass into an 
oblivion from which the record of these ephemeral 
kings may serve once more to rescue them. 

In early days the carnival monarch was a mere 
mannikin in wickerwork, after the style of 
many an English Guy Fawkes on November 5th. 
As time went on, however, more attention was 
paid to him, and he was usually the embodiment 
of some local joke. Still later, the personality 
of King Carnival took a wider significance, and 
he was made to represent the chief topic of the 
moment elsewhere than in Nice. New ideas in 
locomotion have always been duly noted ; in 
1890 His Majesty arrived on a tricycle, then 
the dernier mot of speedy travel, and in 1898 
he made his triumphal entry in a gigantic 
motor-car, which would cut a very poor figure 
beside the luxurious automobile of to-day. In 
1902 motor-cars were already being superseded 
in popular imagination by the expected coming 
of the airship, and the King arrived in a dirigible 



338 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

unlike anything ever seen in the heavens either 
before or since. 

But the success of a Nice carnival does not 
depend merely on its official representatives ; 
there are dozens of other cars, great and small, 
besides those of the King and Queen (for His 
Majesty has usually been married of late years), 
and very handsome prizes are given in money 
to recompense the people who get them up, to 
reward them for the expense and trouble to which 
they have been put in their praiseworthy efforts 
to contribute to the gaiety of the season. The 
various committees show themselves generous 
in their rewards, and it is rare that a car goes 
unrecompensed, even though the provided 
number of prizes has been awarded. This is 
only as it should be, for it must be remembered 
that the expense of getting up large carnival 
cars, with their dozens of richly dressed maskers, 
often runs into a sum amounting to two or three 
hundred pounds. 

In these carnival processions there are also 
to be seen numerous cavalcades of horsemen, 
whose costumes are generally very costly, and 
the riders (usually headed by a Queen) make a 
brave show as they ruffle it in silks and satins 
for a few brief, merry hours. Besides the 
cavalcades there are the less pretentious anal- 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 339 

cades, in which the steeds are well-grown moun- 
tain donkeys, and then, of course, come the 
groups of maskers on foot, and the thousand 
and one individual masks, which are often the 
most amusing of all. These are, for the main 
part, peasants and artisans who have designed 
and carried out the construction of their own 
costumes, the ideas of which embody jokes 
which are not unfrequently entirely impossible 
of translation into English, but the flavour of 
whose Gallic wit cannot fail to raise a smile on 
account of their frank and amusing audacity. 

These carnival processions are seen on four 
occasions during the festivities, and during 
their passage the air is thick with brilliant-hued 
paper confetti and long serpentine streamers of 
paper which festoon the bare branches of the 
plane trees which border the route. On two 
of these days the throwing of plaster confetti 
is also permitted, though it is a dirty and in- 
sanitary custom which has not even the merit 
of antiquity to plead for it, as in the early days 
of carnival it was bon-bons which were tossed 
about among the crowd, a far prettier idea than 
the hurling of these little plaster pellets, the 
size of peas, which are sent stinging from a 
shovel attached to the end of an easily bent 
piece of cane. Everyone is shrouded in brown- 



340 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

holland or linen coats, with their heads pro- 
tected by stout wire masks, usually hideously 
painted, which serve as some protection for the 
eyes. 

But if the fetes are brilliant and interesting by 
day, what is to be said of the evening ones, 
when night is literally turned into morning, and 
dancing goes on till sunrise. Each year a 
carnival colour, or combination of colours, is 
selected, which naturally predominates at all 
the festivals. The veglioni, or masked balls at 
the opera house (which is superbly decorated 
and illuminated for the occasion), present a 
magnificent spectacle of moving colour and 
brilliancy ; the boxes are filled with the elite of 
cosmopolitan society ; and after midnight the 
fun waxes fast and furious. At three o'clock in 
the morning the committee distribute scores 
of exquisite hand-painted silken banners to the 
wearers of the richest and most novel costumes, 
and people sup and dance till an hour at which 
they find themselves in the midst of the early 
flower market as they leave the opera to seek 
their way home. The redoutes at the Casino 
Municipal are equally charming sights, and they 
differ from the veglioni in that, at the first, only 
the colours of the year are allowed to be worn, 
while at the second one everything is of the 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 341 

purest white, though at both trimmings and 
ornaments of gold and silver are always per- 
mitted. One of the great features of these 
redoutes is the fairy-like illumination of the 
Casino, with myriads of electric lights hung in 
festoons and garlands of flowers, in a glitter as 
of the Arabian Nights. 

The battles of flowers which are held in the 
unique framework of the Promenade des Anglais, 
with the blue waters of the Bay of Angels 
sparkling in the sunshine by the side of the 
battle-ground, are the most charming of all the 
fetes. These are no modern invention, for does 
not Baring-Gould tell us in his "Book of the 
Riviera," "in no part of Europe, probably, 
did pagan customs linger on with such per- 
sistence as in this favoured land of Provence, 
among a people of mixed blood, Ligurian, 
Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Saracen. Each cur- 
rent of uniting blood brought with it some 
superstition, some vicious propensity, or some 
strain of fancy. In the very first mention we 
have of the Greek settlers allusion is made to 
the floral games." 

These battles of flowers, then, we may assume 
to have originated in the happy " strain of fancy " 
of long-dead races, who once dwelt on these 
shores, for of a truth there is no " vicious pro- 

Z 2 



342 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

pensity " in their scented beauty. In these gay 
floral fetes kings and peasants may take an equal 
and truly republican share. It does not require 
a very long memory to recall the Sovereigns 
who have taken part in these flower fights in 
recent years. Queen Victoria — mistress of half 
the world — as proud of the beautiful banner 
which had been presented to her as if it had 
been a standard captured by her armies from 
some doughty foe. King Edward, Queen Isabella 
of Spain, King Oscar of Sweden — that debonair 
old Sovereign who battled through the long 
afternoon as gaily as any schoolboy out for a 
holiday — his son, King Gustav V, King Frederick 
VIII of Denmark, King Leopold of the Belgians, 
with a quick eye for the fair combatants as 
well as for their bouquets, Dom Pedro of Brazil, 
with most of the Russian Grand Dukes, and 
half the Almanac de Gotha besides, to say nothing 
of such recently elevated monarchs as the Kings 
of Montenegro and Bulgaria. 

So King Carnival lives his short and merry 
life, setting an example of the principle of 
" carpe diem " which his subjects are not slow 
to follow ; and when he is brought to his funeral 
pyre, the occasion is just as much an oppor- 
tunity for merry-making as those which have 
gone before it. One old custom of this last 



THE NICE CARNIVAL 343 

evening, which died hard, is nevertheless now 
defunct ; that of the moccoletti. This was a 
game played while waiting for the torch to be set 
to the pyre of the King, and consisted in everyone 
running about with a lighted candle, the flame 
of which he endeavoured to keep alight, while 
at the same time he did his best to extinguish 
those of his neighbours. But the rockets hiss 
and soar, and 'mid a brilliant flight of attendant 
aerial courtiers the soul of King Carnival is 
borne upwards beyond the stars, to take his seat 
in that Valhalla where the spirits of his an- 
cestors await him in the quiet of that repose 
which was certainly lacking in their brief and 
strenuous reigns over their erstwhile subjects in 
Nice. 

Such is a Nice carnival, and the other Riviera 
towns now imitate it in very generous and 
successful fashion. 



LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED 

In addition to the classical authors, the following are 
among the works which have been consulted : — 

Ardisson (H.). MS. " delle cose di Nizza." 

Arene (Edouard). " Nice Autrefois." 

Ardouin-Dumazet. " Voyage en France : Les Alpes de 
Provence.'" 

de Banville (Theodore). " La Mer de Nice." 

Baring-Gould (S.). " A Book of the Riviera." 

Bosio. " La Province des Alpes Maritimes." 

Bottero. 

Bouche (H.). " Chorographie de Provence " (1664). 

Brewster (Maria). " Letters from Nice." 

British Consular Records (The). 

Brun (J.). 

Burnel (A.). " Nice." 

C. C. " Riviera Nature Notes." 

Chanal (Edouard). " Contes et Legendes du pays Nicois." 

Coutance (A.). " L'Olivier." 

Davis, m.d. (I. B.). "The Ancient and Modern History 
of Nice" (1807). 

Dempster (Miss). " The Maritime Alps and their Sea- 
board" (1885). 

Durante (L.). "Histoire de Nice"; "Chorographie du 
Comte de Nice." 

FitzPatrick. " Guide to Nice." 

345 



346 THE ROMANCE OF NICE 

Gioffredo. "Nicaea Civitas" (1658); "Storia delle Alpi 
Marittime." 

Goby (Paul). Pamphlets. 

Guide d'Arcy. 

Historical and Picturesque Description of the County of 
Nice. Anon. London, 1792. 

Hole, d.d. (S. Reynolds). "Nice and her Neighbours." 

Lenthe'ric (C). "The Riviera Ancient and Modern.'' 1 
Translated by Charles West. 

Lesueur (H.). (1863.) 

Macmillan, d.d. (H.). " The Riviera " (1892). 

Moris (Henri). "Au pays bleu"; "Petite Patrie : Les 
Alpes Maritimes." 

Negrin (E.). "Promenades de Nice." 

Notices Historiques sur le Comte et la Ville de Nice (1871). 

P. (Abbe J.). " Dictionnaire Nicoise " (1894). 

Potter (J. W.). " Some Summer Resorts in the South of 
France." 

Sappia (Honore). 

Seguran. " Les Rues de Nice " (1888). 

Smollett. " Letters from Nice." 

Steinbrtick (J. H. T.). " Recueil d'Etudes sur Nice et ses 
environs." 

Sulzer. " De Berlin a Nice." 

Tisserand. " Histoire de Nice." 

Toselli (J. B.). " Biographie Nicoise ancienne et moderne " 
(1860) ; "Precis historique de Nice" (1775). 

Visconti. " A Few Words about Nice." 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

The Author desires to express his thanks to Mr. John 
Murray, for permission to reprint " The Strange Obsequies 
of Paganini, 1 ' which originally appeared in "The Monthly 
Review"; to the Proprietors of "The Gentleman's Magazine, 1 ' 
for similar permission in regard to the " Letters of a Queen 
of Spain " ; to Monsieur Dominique Durandy, who has 
kindly allowed him to translate the story of " The Cater- 
pillars of Contes,"" from " L'Ane de Gorbio " ; and to the 
Proprietors of " The Anglo-American Gazette " and " The 
Riviera News," for letting him reproduce several short 
articles on local customs which he originally wrote for those 
papers. A portion of the chapter on the " Destruction of 
Cimiez " has already appeared in pamphlet form. 



347 



WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. 
PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH 



